


Great Minds Think Alike || Chensung

by Seungkwans_cheeks, xRae



Series: NCT [1]
Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Experiments, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Horror, M/M, Mentioned SEVENTEEN Ensemble, Multi, NCT 2020, OT7 NCT Dream, Science Fiction, Technology, Thriller, WayV - Freeform, renhyuck are bamfs, renjun and donghyuck are besties since birth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28054896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seungkwans_cheeks/pseuds/Seungkwans_cheeks, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xRae/pseuds/xRae
Summary: “If this all a dream, then it’s one hell of a nightmare.”Park Jisung was just getting on the school bus with his friends, only for them to end up somewhere totally different, somewhere that may have broken the laws of science...Note: I didn’t realize how scary this story was gonna be (even though it was based off Rae's nightmares kek), but viewer discretion is advised.Visuals included in the wattpad version @-xRae-
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Ji Hansol/Qian Kun, Jung Sungchan & Osaki Shotaro, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Moon Taeil, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Liu Yang Yang/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery, Liu Yang Yang/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun, Liu Yang Yang/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Series: NCT [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055222
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Seungkwans_cheeks for writing this with me! I literally could not have done it without her, so go check her out if you like Seventeen!!!! 
> 
> Also we don’t own nct or any other idols that may appear in this story, and please don’t steal our work. Plagiarism is a crime xoxoxo
> 
> So yea we hope you enjoy!
> 
> -Rae

“Dude, why can’t Mr. Seo be on vacation everyday?” Donghyuck complained as they left their English classroom 20 minutes earlier than usual since their teacher wasn’t there to teach them. “I don’t need his classes. I have Mark.”

Jisung shook his head at the tanned male as he heard his other friend counter the question. 

“Really? And how’s that going for you? You can barely introduce yourself.” Jaemin rolled his eyes as he tightly held onto the arm of one of his two boyfriends Jeno.

The four of them left the school building as Donghyuck started to speak random English with a strong Korean accent.

“I miss Mark.” Donghyuck pouted as he dragged on his words, making Jisung want to run and die in a ditch.

“I miss Renjun too, but you don’t see me complaining,” said Jeno as they made it to the sidewalk.

Donghyuck scoffed. “Huh, I thought I heard you guys earlier saying how much you want to—”

Jaemin shrieked and covered the older’s mouth. “Not in front of the kid!” 

“Can you guys like not? I’m not a child, and you’re also making me feel single,” Jisung whined and pushed the three in front of him as they laughed. 

The youngest wasn’t really interested in getting into a relationship, but he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he did. 

All of the hugs, cuddles, and kisses—

Jisung cringed. Ew, maybe not. 

The boys soon arrived by the bus and noticed its door was wide open for them to step inside.

They slowly peaked in as the open door seemed suspicious and saw that Jung Jaehyun, the college student bus driver, was sleeping on the job while waiting for the school to dismiss their students.

“Do you think he’ll mind if we get on?” Donghyuck asked, already stepping onto the bus. “I don’t feel like standing here for 20 more minutes.” 

“Nah, let’s go.” Jisung entered right after, and the other two followed suit.

They all went to the back of the bus where they perfectly fit in the four last row seats. 

“Dude, beans in tomato sauce are the bomb!” Donghyuck exclaimed, waving his arms around like he was proving a point. 

Jeno’s fake gagging caught his attention which made the younger scoff at how annoying he was being. 

Offended, Donghyuck threw his fists up in the air as he whisper-shouted, “I will fight you.” 

Jisung was snorting with laughter as his body felt different. 

He opened his eyes to see that he wasn’t on the bus anymore. 

He blinked and widened his eyes as he was zooming through blackness. His guts felt like they were being left behind at how fast he was going. 

A headache crept upon him as he was only able to feel himself moving forward and nothing else while his eyes were trying to focus on something in the darkness.

There wasn’t any time to comprehend what was happening as he felt himself jerk to one side. 

The sudden movement made Jisung want to vomit, and he felt his eyes unwillingly close.


	2. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1: Escape 
> 
> “If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.” - Seneca the Younger

“Jisung!”

The aforementioned groaned in annoyance at the sound of his name.

“Jisung, wake up!”

Jaemin shook the boy awake with panic clear in his voice. 

Jisung’s eyes fluttered open, quickly trying to adjust to the darkness surrounding them. 

He blinked and tried to sit up from his lying position as he felt his head throb in pain.

Jaemin was sitting beside the boy, softly holding his hands as his teary eyes looked up to meet Jisung’s. 

The older’s face immediately relaxed, and he stood up with a relieved smile.

Jisung rubbed his eyes and sat up completely, finally noticing how damp the floor was.

He placed his hands on the ground, expecting to feel the crusty floor of the bus, but instead, he felt his fingers brush against thin blades of grass, wet with early morning dew. 

Jisung quickly stood up, the pain in his head subtly hinting its existence, and his eyes widened at his surroundings. 

He looked around and saw that they were somewhere in a pinewood forest. 

It was nighttime, and the only light was coming from the random street lamps littered around the woods. 

Jisung turned back towards his friends with the same shocked look he had from the beginning.

Donghyuck was nervously biting his nails, and Jaemin and Jeno were holding onto each other tightly.

Finally gaining the voice to speak, Jisung hesitantly asked, “W-Where… Where are we?”

“I— I honestly have no idea,” Jeno answered shakily. “One second we were on the bus, and now we’re here after another. Same as you.”

“Except for the fact that you were passed out on the ground when we got here,” Donghyuck snazzily added, trying to clear the fear and confusion in his voice. “How did you even—”

Jisung shook his head in disbelief. “It felt longer than a second, though. I— I swear I was like traveling through space, and I got knocked out by someone pushing me or something.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Jaemin tapped his chin, an uneasy aura surrounding him as he spoke. “We ended up here without going through anything. It’s impossible. None of this is possible.”

“Are you sure we’re not dreaming?” Jeno asked as he looked around. 

Donghyuck pinched his forearm. 

“Ow!” Jeno rubbed his arm as he glared at the younger.

“It’s not a dream,” Donghyuck confirmed, confident with his answer; although, his shaky hands were telling a different story. “Anyways, do you guys have your phones on you?”

The others checked their pockets.

Jeno shook his head after everyone searched to no avail. “We don’t have them.”

“Shit, I thought it was just me,” Donghyuck cursed and started to slowly look around for an escape or any source of light that wasn’t coming from the useless street lamps. “Looks like we have no way of knowing where we are….”

Jisung flinched suddenly and darted closer to the rest of them. 

He stuttered, “G-Guys, I think I heard something behind us.” 

“It’s probably just an animal or something,” Jaemin started with a forced eyeroll, but he wasn't convinced by his own words as he froze in his spot. 

Strangely enough, there weren’t any other creatures in sight. Not even a single bug was crawling on the barks of the trees like how they usually do, but footsteps could be heard in the distance along with muffled whispers.

The dim street lamps should’ve caught something or a shadow at least, but there was nothing there.

Anything was possible at this point, so it could’ve been something invisible for all they knew. 

Jaemin gulped. “Let’s find a way out of here, shall we?” 

The others agreed without any argument and huddled close to one another as they wandered around the place with footsteps following behind them wherever they went.

It didn’t make any sense why whoever was following them wasn't showing themself; however, none of the boys wanted to risk angering them by running.

It was getting hopeless as there seemed to be no escape no matter how much they walked. 

“Just a little bit further,” a playful sounding voice whispered from behind them which caused a shiver to crawl up the four’s spines.

The boys looked behind them to see nothing yet again, but they picked up their pace nonetheless.

Maybe the voice was trying to help them. 

Or at least it sounded like it did.

At the next street lamp, there was a small cottage with light beaming out from the inside; however, complete utter darkness followed behind it. 

Donghyuck sighed in relief and started to jerk the door handle, wanting to enter the seemingly safe house as soon as possible. 

The creepiness of the situation was being more than he could handle. 

The door was obviously locked, so Jisung tried knocking on the door to see if anyone inside would answer. 

Instead of the door opening, a letter fell out of the mail flap below the doorknob. 

Jaemin took the letter from the floor and opened it with the others looking over his shoulder. 

“Step into the unknown, and find the key?” the boy read aloud, confused. 

Donghyuck furrowed his brows and glared at the note as if it was a person with impatience. “What is this? Some kind of escape game?”

“I think it is.” Jeno tilted his head as he ignored the familiar feeling of goosebumps running up his arms. “Whoever teleported us here probably wants us to do this for their own personal enjoyment.”

With gritted teeth, Donghyuck angrily ripped the letter out of Jaemin’s hands and crumpled it up. “I just wanna get out of here, not play one of their stupid games.”

“Maybe there’s a different way to get out of here,” Jaemin suggested as he slowly took the note back from the older boy’s hands. 

He looked behind him cautiously where the street lamps and trees were, scared to meet his eyes with the ‘creature’ or ‘creatures’ if you will. “This forest’s gotta end at some point, right?” 

Scraping of metal was heard from behind them, which was probably there to scare the boys into submission.

Jaemin whimpered and clutched his boyfriend’s hand a little tighter. “Nevermind. We have no other choice.”

“S-So they want us to go in…” Jisung pointed towards the dark void behind the cottage, his breathing becoming quicker. “T-There?” 

“Mhm,” Jaemin mumbled with a gulp. “That’s what the letter said at least.”

“I can’t do this! Please, I—” Jisung cried before feeling Jaemin’s arm snake around him, bringing him into a comforting hug. 

“Hey, we’re gonna have to do this whether you like it or not, but you’re not gonna be alone. We’ll be right here with you,” Jaemin said softly, trying his best to calm the younger down.

“We don’t even have a flashlight!” Jisung countered, tears starting to stream down his face.

Jaemin let go of him, opening his mouth and closing it again as he didn’t know how to reply to that. 

“W-What’s that?” Donghyuck asked in surprise, and he took a few steps back as everyone turned their attention to where he was pointing.

“Flashlights.” Jeno picked them up from the floor and handed one for each of his friends with one left for himself. “This is insane.”


	3. Unlocked

Jisung took a deep breath before gripping his flashlight tightly, and he walked around the cottage with the others into the void behind it.

He flinched when he felt someone’s hand rubbing against his forearm, the warm touch assuring him that whatever they were going to was going to be okay.

Assuming it was Jaemin, he looked beside him just as the hand pulled away to see that the older was focused on shining his flashlight around the dark scenery.

Strangely, Jisung wasn’t really scared by it because of how comforting it felt. 

He was just confused. 

“What are we looking for again?” Donghyuck asked as he looked around, the darkness surrounding them making him paranoid.

“A key to get in the cottage, remember?” Jeno answered coldly as they walked along the dirt path, seemingly trying to hide any source of weakness. 

The sound of leaves crunching could be heard from behind them which made Donghyuck quickly turn around and shine his flashlight towards the source of sound.

“It was me, you idiot!” Jaemin covered his eyes from the brightness of the older’s flashlight.

Donghyuck turned his flashlight forward again and cried despairingly, “Oh, why couldn’t we have just broken one of the windows or something?” 

“Hyuck, you know we couldn’t have done that without any consequences.” Jeno shook his head at the younger who was still panicking.

“And can you try to be at least a  _ little  _ positive?” Jaemin added. “You’re not the only one who’s scared here.” 

He expected Donghyuck to answer him with a sarcastic comment about how it’s impossible to be positive knowing where they are now, but Jaemin was surprised when he was met with complete silence. 

“Fucking hell...” Jeno tugged on his boyfriend’s sleeve, his cold expression now replaced with a shocked and nervous one.

“A-Are we supposed to go in there?” Jisung asked, pointing his flashlight into the direction of an unfinished brick building, still holding it close to his body.

Jaemin slowly walked towards it, slightly hesitating before answering, “I mean, that’s where the trail ends so….”

Donghyuck let out a shaky breath and followed after him with Jeno. “It’s like we’re playing an in-real-life game of slenderman.”

Meanwhile, Jisung just stood where he was, mind racing with all of the terrible possibilities that could possibly happen in that building.

Jaemin’s motherly instincts kicked in when he turned around to see the youngest frozen with a worried look. 

He walked back towards Jisung and gave him a reassuring smile as he held out his hand.

Jisung hesitated a bit before he finally grabbed the older’s hand, receiving a soft squeeze before they followed the others.

Donghyuck shined his flashlight around the building as the two youngest went up to him and Jeno. “It looks abandoned. How cliche.”

Jeno frowned after he looked down at Jisung’s and Jaemin’s intertwined hands. 

He knew it was just because of Jaemin’s caring personality, but he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. 

If Renjun was here, he would’ve smacked some sense into Jeno and tell him how stupid and possesive he was being.

Speaking of Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin both missed him, and their unlikely circumstances were making them even more scared that they would die without saying goodbye.

Seeing the small Chinese boy again was enough motivation for the two to keep going and hoping that there is an escape. 

The same thing was for Donghyuck, except he’s with Mark. 

“Guess we have no choice but to go inside,” said Jeno, grimacing as he carefully entered through the large opening leading inside. 

The other three followed behind him slowly while panning their lights around.

“So is the key in one of these rooms?” Jeno asked as he felt cold air brush by him, making him shiver slightly.

“If it is, it’s probably in the farthest one,” Jaemin assumed as he shone his light on the room all the way in the back. “But we should probably check all of them just in case.” 

“Should we check each room separately?” Donghyuck kicked around some of the cobwebs on the concrete floor as they walked further into the building. “It’ll be faster, and there’s one for each of us.” 

Jisung gulped. “Right, four rooms for four people.” 

“Jisung and I will check the first two rooms then,” Jaemin asserted as he tightened his grip on the younger’s hand.

Donghyuck turned to face Jeno. “Rock, paper, scissors?”

Jeno nodded as he put out his hand. “Whoever loses has to go in the last room.” 

Donghyuck groaned after playing best of three, mentally murdering Jeno for winning as he shook his head in defeat.

He looked back towards the farthest room with dread as it felt like he was being sucked into it. “That better be the right room, or else I’ll haunt everyone as a ghost.” 

Jeno patted his shoulder before saluting him as he went into his assigned room.

Donghyuck took a deep breath as he walked slowly towards the dark room and peaked in through the doorway before cautiously going inside, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.

He panned his flashlight around the walls that were covered in graffiti. 

He went against his own will as he started reading what was written lazyly on the before empty wall with colors of every kind.

Some of the writing on the walls were somewhat normal looking and said cheesy stuff like “Love” and “Live life on the edge”, but there were a lot of questionable ones too.

It was unnerving to even read it aloud in his head.

_ Help. _

_ Get me out of here. _

_ Escape while you still can. _

_ Don’t trust— _

Donghyuck was caught off guard by the sound of chains dangling in the cold, thick air.

Forgetting about the graffiti, he quickly walked towards it and sighed in relief as he found what they were looking for.

Donghyuck was about to grab it as a scream sounded from inside the building.

—————

“OH GOD, WHAT WAS THAT?” Jisung screeched as he barely missed a giant flying piece of steel rocketing towards him.

A deep voice chuckled lowly as Jaemin’s flashlight was yanked from his hands in the room beside Jisung’s.

Jeno’s situation wasn’t much better as whispers surrounded him while he was being pushed out into the hallway by something he couldn’t see.

Donghyuck quickly grabbed onto the gold key hanging as a pendent on a matching gold necklace, and he darted out of his assigned room out into the hall where he saw a pretty shaken up Jeno. 

He quickly pulled the chain around his neck as he ran up to Jeno.

“Hey, are you okay?” Donghyuck asked, his voice trying to stay calm but to no success. 

He received a nod, and he slightly shook Jeno by his shoulders.

“I got the key, so we can get out now. Please save one of them while I take the other,” Donghyuck directed the older, seeing Jeno slowly collect himself.

He couldn’t wait on Jeno to calm down as he heard another scream.

Donghyuck quickly booked it towards the room of the sound as something immediately went flying towards him. 

Fortunately, his reflexes were good enough to make him duck just in time, and the heavy object flew right over his head. 

In the room stood Jisung, shaking from head to toe as he looked up at the older with glossy eyes. 

As Donghyuck looked into them, he could see the words ‘Help me’ being written all over. 

“Look out!” He screamed as another flying stone was yeeted at Jisung, but to their luck, it missed him by only an inch.

“Please… help,” Jisung cried as his legs could barely hold him up anymore.

Just watching Jisung shake in fear like that hurt Donghyuck’s heart, and he started to run towards the boy in order to save him.

The room was quite large, and Jisung had somehow managed to get himself into the very back corner of the room with what looked like bricks constantly being thrown at him. 

Donghyuck moved towards the younger, only stopping to dodge the flying bricks. 

As he had finally gotten close to Jisung, he took out his hand for the younger to grab, but he didn’t notice the brick flying right towards his forearm.

He whimpered in pain, holding back a few tears as the brick had hit him quite hard. 

He looked up at Jisung, whose shaking had gradually gotten worse.

Without saying anything, Donghyuck took the boy's hand and ran towards the exit. 

The invisible being probably felt bad about accidentally hitting Donghyuck because they didn’t feel or hear anything being thrown at them on their way out.

As they were back in the concrete corridor, Donghyuck quickly let go of Jisung’s hand which made the boy quickly fall to the floor.

The bruise on his arm was aching, making Donghyuck turn around in his spot. 

As Dognhyuck was looking around for something to lighten the pain, he noticed that Jeno was gone, most likely saving Jaemin.

Just as Donghyuck was about to walk over to the other doorway, the two he was looking for left the room, Jeno hugging Jaemin who was holding onto him for his dear life. 

Donghyuck let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and went over to Jisung, who was still shaking. 

He softly petted the younger’s side as an attempt to calm the scared boy down.

When Donghyuck thought Jisung was calm enough to stand up, he tried to pull the boy up with a little bit of struggle as he was quite tall.

He looked over at Jeno and Jaemin who had been standing a bit further away from them and rocking from side to side with their bodies.

“Oh my god, this is why all the brain cells went to Mark and Renjun,” Donghyuck spoke quietly to where everyone had heard him anyway. “That was a bad idea on my part to make you guys go in each room alone.”

“Nice to see you admitting your mistake,” Jeno muttered as he walked towards the others, bringing a traumatized Jaemin with him. “Let’s just leave before something else comes after us.”

Donghyuck carefully knelt down to grab his flashlight without letting go of Jisung.

He turned the light on, and Jeno did the same.

They quickly left the unfinished brick building and started walking back to the cottage.

The threatening whispers they heard didn’t bother them anymore as their energy was drained, and their minds were too worn out to care.

As soon as they could see the cottage and street lamps, Donghyuck’s pace fastened without him noticing.

When they made it to the front door, Donghyuck let go of Jisung and threw his flashlight down as it ran out of battery.

The flashlight broke as expected, but the boy couldn’t care less as he was already taking off the necklace with the key attached to it.

After a while of fumbling, he finally got the door open with a quick turn of the key.

Two men stood in the entrance hallway as if they were waiting for them the whole time, making the boys’ eyes widen at the sight of other human beings.

“We’ve been expecting you,” said the short brown-haired one. “I’m Taeil, and please, come inside.”


	4. Invisible People and Technology of the Like

“Why are we here...?” Jisung asked as the tall, blonde-haired boy who introduced himself as Jungwoo sat Donghyuck down on the couch to tend to his arm.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t tell you,” Taeil started as he gave the boys some water. “We’re not allowed to until the deal is completely finished.” 

“What do you mean you can’t tell us?” Donghyuck exclaimed after Jungwoo left his side. “And what deal—”

At that exact moment, the front door opened and closed on its own.

“Turn off your invisibility, will you? You’re scaring them.” Jungwoo sighed as the boys on the couch huddled close to each other in fear. 

“Aw, being invisible is fun, though,” Yangyang complained with a cute pout after doing what the older said.

Hendery chuckled and pinched his boyfriend’s cheeks. “You’re just like a baby.”

“Babes, did you forget we’re still on the job?” Xiaojun turned off his invisibility as well and shook his head at his two lovers. 

He turned towards Donghyuck with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about your arm, by the way. I didn’t mean to actually hit you.” 

The four’s jaws dropped to the floor. 

Donghyuck’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, this feels like a weird fever dream.” 

“It’s not a dream, unfortunately,” Hendery said with a sad smile. “Also, we should probably tell you who we are before we explain some of this to you.”

The trio introduced themselves and shook the boys’ hands politely.

“How— invisible— you—” Jaemin couldn’t even make complete sentences, his eyes still wide with disbelief. 

Yangyang giggled softly as he took out a device that looked suspiciously like an iPhone and held it up for the boys to see. “State-of-the-art technology.”

“All of us have one,” Xiaojun explained. “It’s basically a cell phone that can also break the boundaries of science like turning invisible and teleporting.”

“That’s cool and all,” Jeno started. “But could you at least tell us what’s going on?”

The trio glanced at each other before looking at Taeil for permission.

Taeil sighed and looked at the others with an apologetic look. 

“Are you sure we can’t tell them?” Jungwoo asked the older Korean quietly.

“Yes!” Taeil whisper-shouted with gritted teeth. “He’s gonna kill us if we do.”

“Jeez, what’s got you all crabby today?” Hendery asked with an eye-roll. “Doyoung’s not here to tame you?”

“Hey, just because he’s my boyfriend doesn’t mean I miss him 24/7!” Taeil slapped the younger’s arm with flushed cheeks while the four on the couch just watched in confusion. “I’m just saying the truth. Plus, the guy’s watching over us right now.” 

“To be fair, you did say it kinda harshly, though,” Yangyang added. 

The oldest pinched the bridge of his nose with irritation, and he was about to retaliate when a notification popped up on their phones.

“Looks like we don’t have that much time,” Jungwoo noted as he and Xiaojun helped the boys off the couch. “We need to get you guys to sleep before the simulation deletes itself.”

“Simulation?” Donghyuck yelped as the others led them to the bedroom. “What do you mean—” 

“Here, wear this,” Jungwoo interrupted with slight urgency as he put the necklace with the key attached to it around the younger’s neck. “This should prove to you that this is all real once you guys wake up.”

As him and his friends were directed to lay on the provided beds, Donghyuck muttered, “This shit just gets weirder and weirder.” 

“You’re not allowed to tell anyone about this, not even your boyfriends,” Taeil stated as he looked into each of the boy's eyes. “Just know that your lives are on the line along with ours.”

  
Jisung blinked before laying down. “B-But what about our parents?”

“They know what’s going on, but they’re not allowed to tell anyone either,” Xiaojun explained quickly. “They know everything about this through the contract they signed.”

“Everything will continue normally just like nothing had ever happened when you wake up,” Jungwoo explained before turning out the lights.

The boys didn’t get to ask anything because the older had already left the room along with everyone else.

Jaemin held Jeno’s hand from across their beds. “We should probably get to sleep before we all die.”

The other three agreed, and because they were all completely worn out, they did what the boy said with ease.

—————

Jisung found himself in an empty office room, but he knew that it was a dream this time because of the familiar dazed and airy feeling his body had. 

He looked around the room to see a giant screen across from a row of desks facing towards it. 

Going with the flow of things, Jisung sat down in one of the chairs just as the smartboard turned on. 

It was a video clip taken from earlier that day judging by the date in the corner. 

The screen showed a cozy looking library with a cute, black-haired boy sitting at one of the desks, reading a book.

_ Wait, cute? _ Jisung shook his head.  _ Is this some kind of dream boy my brain made up because of how single I am?  _

A tall, dark haired boy walked into the library and said something to the other one in a language Jisung recognized as Chinese.

_ How am I supposed to know what they’re say—  _ Jisung looked down to where a remote control suddenly appeared on the desk.

Without thinking, he pressed a random button, and Korean subtitles appeared at the bottom of the screen.  _ How convenient…. _

“What does he want now, Xuxi?” the boy asked and pouted as he closed his book with a sigh.

_ Oh god, even his voice is cute,  _ Jisung thought before mentally slapping himself for swooning.

He doesn’t get attracted to people  _ this _ easily, but for some reason, this mystery boy who probably didn’t even exist was making him feel some type of way.

“He just wants to see you.” Xuxi, who Jisung guessed was the tall guy who just entered earlier, helped the other out his chair. “Apparently, you’re needed for an important job tomorrow.” 

At this point, Jisung was more than confused. 

He was starting to think that maybe this wasn’t a normal dream like he had originally thought, or he may have gotten into something confidential that he wasn’t supposed to when he fell asleep.

Again, considering the past events, anything was possible. 

Xuxi tugged on the black-haired boy’s shirt sleeve. “Come on, let’s go.” 

“You can go ahead of me,” said the boy after he glanced in Jisung’s direction for a second. 

He seemed to be surprised that there was a camera or something there because his eyes widened for a second before turning to the taller male like nothing happened. “I just need to put this away first.” 

Xuxi nodded and left the library as the other put away the book he was reading.

The black-haired boy then stared straight into the camera as if he was looking straight at Jisung. 

Jisung should’ve felt scared at that moment, but for some reason, he wasn’t. 

“I guess my theory worked,” the boy on the screen muttered under his breath as he walked over to the library’s light switch. 

He gave a small but cute smile at whatever was filming him. 

“I know you’re watching me…” the boy stated clearly, this time in Korean for Jisung to understand before turning off the lights. “Whoever you are.”


	5. Back to Normal (for now...)

Jisung woke up with a start. 

He ignored the signs of his body telling him to sleep some more as he sat up and rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes.

Everything felt normal again but different at the same time; however, he couldn’t put a finger down on what. 

Whatever happened last night had completely fried his brain. 

Jisung’s eyes widened once the realisation hit him.

“I’m home,” he gasped aloud with disbelief as he looked around his room, everything looking just as he had left it the other morning. 

He blinked as he felt like he had a full night’s rest.

After he quickly removed the covers off his body, he looked down, and to his surprise, he was still wearing the clothes he had worn yesterday. 

Jisung reached for his phone, which was blaring an annoying melody for an alarm, from his bedside table out of habit, and he sighed in relief as it didn’t disappear completely from the night before.

He turned off the alarm and texted the first person he had in mind.

**_Today, 6:45 AM_ **

**JiSuNg pWaRk**

hi

**Shoulder Gangster Runjeon *smirking cat emote***

hey, im omw rn

need anything?

Jisung let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

Honestly, the only reason he texted Renjun in the first place was to check if everything is as normal as it seems like what Jungwoo had said last night.

Jisung didn’t feel like replying to his friend as he had already gotten his answer, so he got up from his bed completely.

Even if the event that happened the night before might not have been real, he decided to take a shower anyway as he still felt quite filthy, and maybe a shower would make him feel better in general. 

After quickly getting ready for the day, Jisung heard his mother yelling for him downstairs as he had just finished buttoning up his school uniform shirt. 

“Jisung!” his mother called again. “Renjun’s here!”

After hastily tying his tie, Jisung ran down the stairs with his backpack to see his friend standing in the kitchen and talking to his mother who was preparing coffee for herself. 

“Sorry for making you wait,” Jisung apologised as he walked into the room and plopped into his seat at the table.

“Eh, I just got here, so it’s fine.” Renjun sat down next to him. “Anyways, why’d you text me without responding? I was lowkey worried.”

Jisung made himself a bowl of cereal with the provided supplies his mother left on the table for him while he thought of a suitable excuse. 

“I was gonna ask if you could get me something to eat today, but I got distracted,” he made up on the spot.

Jisung then realized that he still needed to finish his homework from last night, so this was actually working out for him. “Mr. Choi wants me to finish school work in his classroom during lunch.”

Renjun was about to say something, but Jisung’s mother stopped him.

“Honey, you could’ve just asked me,” she sighed before opening the fridge and taking out ingredients for a sandwich. “You’re lucky I have some extra time before work.”

Jisung’s mother was a pediatrician at the local hospital, so she didn’t have that much free time during the day as she was busy saving the lives of children in need.

Even though being a single parent and a doctor at the same time can be stressful, she was happy and so was Jisung.

“Sorry, I forgot.” Jisung scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I didn’t want to bother you as this was kinda last minute.” 

“You don’t bother me at all!” the woman exclaimed as she finished making her son’s lunch in record time and put it in his backpack. “And I don’t blame you for forgetting. You did have a lot on your plate last night.”

Jisung froze while Renjun just looked between the two of them with confusion. 

“Uh, yeah. I guess I did,” Jisung agreed before eating his cereal, silently hoping Renjun wouldn’t question anything about the subject. 

Luckily, the older boy didn’t and continued the conversation he had with Jisung’s mother before the youngest came downstairs.

_ Should I ask her if she knows anything about what happened last night?  _ Jisung thought as his mother and his friend gossiped like old ladies at the market.

After deciding to ask the older woman later, he stood up and washed his dishes before grabbing his stuff and going into the living room to put his shoes on.

“Let’s go before we miss the bus,” Jisung reminded Renjun as he peaked his head in the doorway of the kitchen after he finished tying his shoes.

Renjun nodded and left the room with his things.

“Wait!” Jisung heard his mother call. 

She rushed into the hall and engulfed the two boys into a soft hug.

“Good luck,” she whispered weakly, her eyes glossy even though she had a bright smile on her lips. 

Jisung held onto the comfort of his mother as his mind raced with the thought that something terrible was going to happen to him soon. “Thanks….” 

The older woman let go of the boys and kissed their foreheads before leaving to get ready for work.

“Do we have a test today or something?” Renjun asked as he left the house with the younger.

Jisung gulped “I— I don’t know.” 

There might as well be a test, but it wasn’t going to be the kind his friend was thinking of. 

While Jisung was left pondering about what his mother could be impling earlier, Renjun’s pace quickened on the sidewalk as they neared Jeno and Jaemin.

The two boys in front of them noticed their arrival and grinned excitedly back at them, or more specifically, they were smiling at Renjun. 

“Wow, good morning to you too, I guess,” Jisung muttered as he watched the small Chinese boy jump into his two boyfriends’ arms with just the slightest bit of jealousy. 

He also wanted someone to smile like the sun just by seeing his face and the other way around of course.

Suddenly, the cute black-haired boy from his dream popped up in his head, making him feel slightly crazy.

_ Can you actually go insane from being single for too long?  _ Jisung thought as Jeno and Jaemin started to plant innocent pecks on Renjun’s face.

Jeno then pulled the Chinese boy in for a kiss, making the older’s cheeks flush in surprise.

Jisung cringed as Renjun pulled on Jeno’s hair to deepen the romantic action.

As the two oldest parted, Jaemin swooped in and captured Renjun into another deep kiss as Jeno watched them with a cute eye-smile.

Jisung covered his eyes as the sight of Jaemin sticking his tongue into Renjun’s mouth was making him uncomfortable. 

Once they were done kissing, the smaller was left catching his breath as if he had just ran a 10K marathon. 

“Did you really miss me  _ that _ much?” Renjun panted, his cheeks still tinted with a soft pink color as he giggled quietly. “It’s only been one day.” 

“We miss you every second you’re not there.” Jaemin pouted before giving the older another peck on the cheek.

“Oh my god,” Jisung groaned, not being able to take any more of their cheesiness that early in the day.

He shook his head and continued walking to the bus stop with his friends. “I feel like I’m listening to a porn intro.”

“Sounds like somebody’s jealous,” Jeno commented, making his boyfriends burst out laughing. 

Jisung ignored them as the bus came to pick them up just in time.   
  


—————

“Ayo, best friend!” Donghyuck screeched as he gave Renjun a bear hug at the school steps.

“Hey, bitch!” Renjun giggled as they let go. “Why weren’t you on the bus?”

“Sunshine here said he missed me too much and ran all the way to my house this morning,” Mark chuckled as he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend. 

Donghyuck blushed and hid his face in Mark’s shoulder. “S-Shut up.”

_ It’s like the universe is making fun of me at this point _ , Jisung thought as he, Jaemin, and Jeno had finally caught up to the others as Renjun decided to run off the bus to see his best friend. 

“Nice necklace, by the way,” Renjun complemented Donghyuck after seeing a pretty gold key attached to a matching golden chain around the younger’s neck.

“Thanks,” the tanned male blurted, not wanting to give away any uneasiness. 

Jeno, Jaemin, and Jisung gave Donghyuck a horrified look. 

_ So it really wasn’t a dream.  _

Donghyuck turned to the other three boys as all six of them began walking towards the front entrance of the school and mouthed,  _ We’ll talk about it later. _

“Right, I forgot to tell you that I can’t hang out before classes today,” said Renjun as they walked inside. “I have to give a tour to a foriegn exchange student from China.”

Jaemin shook himself out of his thoughts as he and Jeno held their smaller boyfriend’s hands. “Aw, why you out of all people, though?”

Renjun shook his head at the taller. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Nana, but I’m the only other Chinese student that goes to this school.”

Jeno turned to look at his boyfriends after glaring at some fuck-boys who were staring at Renjun not-so innocently. “You’ll still be able to stay for lunch, right?”

“Of course, I will!” The smaller boy smiled up at Jeno but then frowned. “Jisung won’t be able to make it, though.”

“I have to finish my math homework,” Jisung answered with a sigh before his friends could ask.

“Lucky,” Donghyuck complained because he had that class first. “I had to do it all this morning.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Correction:  _ I _ had to do it all this morning, and I don’t even take algebra anymore.”

“So what?” The younger shrugged as they made their way to the lockers. “We were bonding.”

Renjun had already left for the office by the time Mark questioned his choices in men and started some light-hearted banter with his boyfriend. 

The group of friends had a casual conversation before leaving for their classes when the bell rang.

Meanwhile, the four who had experienced something unexplainable last night were still on edge as they made it to their classrooms.

It didn’t make sense as to why everything was so  _ normal. _


	6. To See You Again

“Jisung, you’ll never believe this,” said Renjun excitedly as he went to sit next to the younger in art class which they had before lunch. 

Jisung raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

Renjun started taking his sketchbook and pens out of his bag. “You know the new kid that I had to tour this morning? His name is Zhong Chenle, and he’s about your age.”

“Really? I haven’t seen him.”

“Well, yeah, of course you haven’t.” The older waved Jisung off. “He actually skipped a grade and he’s an honor student who takes like all APs. I never would have guessed because he’s literally like a baby to me.”

“Cool, he’s smart.” Jisung gave his friend a look even though he was kind of interested in this Chenle kid. “What’s your point?”

Renjun rolled his eyes. “My point _ is _ that he’s exactly your type.”

The younger perked up slightly at that as nobody at their school seemed to satisfy him, but he shook his head anyway. “You know relationships aren’t really my thing, right?”

“I know, but you should still try to talk to him,” Renjun suggested as the teacher walked in. “He needs friends too.”

The bell rang, signalling the start of class.

“Fine,” Jisung muttered under his breath for only Renjun to hear. “But only if I get to see him in the first place.”

After class, the two friends parted ways for lunch. 

Renjun left for the cafeteria while Jisung went to go get his math stuff.

As Jisung unlocked his locker and got his textbook out, an unwanted presence appeared in the almost empty hallway. 

He internally groaned once he heard high pitched giggling coming from behind him. 

Gritting his teeth, Jisung slammed the locker closed and turned to face his worst nightmare with a fake smile plastered on his face. 

“Hello, ladies.” Jisung looked down towards the group of girls crowded around him. “Can I help you?”

One of the girls sashayed to the front of the crowd. “You could help me by giving me your number.”

Jisung was quite popular at school because he was the hot and young captain of the dance team, but he never let the fame get to him as he’s normally a kind and understanding person who accepts anyone no matter their differences.

Jisung sighed in annoyance. “How many times do I have to say this? I don’t like you.” 

When I said he was a kind and understanding person who accepts anyone no matter their differences, I was only partly wrong. 

There are always exceptions. 

“You’re not gay, are you?” The girl flipped her bleached blonde hair over her shoulder and smirked. “Come on, I know I’m exactly your type.”

Jisung cringed. “Ew, no thanks.”

The other girls were now trying to woo him over since the first one failed.

Jisung actually did have a type, and it was definitely none of the girls in front of him. 

He hated how this specific group would bully and talk shit about other people and how they acted dumb for attention. 

Besides, he was more attracted to intelligence. 

“I don’t have time for this,” Jisung groaned as he still had somewhere to be and pushed past the girls. “I have school work to do.”

_ Maybe I shouldn’t have been that harsh on them _ , he thought as he went into a different hallway towards the math classroom. 

Unfortunately, Jisung wasn’t looking where he was going, and he didn’t see the person walking in front of him after he turned the corner.

The black-haired boy Jisung ran into let out a screech that sounded like a dolphin as they started falling backwards.

It was like time stopped when Jisung’s panicked eyes met the other boy’s soft brown ones for a split second. 

Jisung was immediately hit with the sweet scent of strawberries, feeling himself getting addicted to the smell.

He then remembered that they were falling, and he closed his eyes as he braced for impact, his bag and textbook already lying forgotten on the ground. 

Jisung instinctively grabbed the boy’s tiny waist, not wanting him to get hurt as his back collided with the floor. 

Opening his eyes, he wasn’t surprised that his vision was blurred from the overwhelming sense of pain he felt, but he could tell one thing judging by the warm minty breath fanning his face.

Their lips were only an inch apart from each other. 

Before Jisung could ask if the boy was alright, the black-haired scrambled off of him. 

“S-Sorry!” the boy stammered before helping Jisung up and running off.

Jisung, still dazed from the fall, blinked away the blurriness and watched as the other left the hallway, only catching a glimpse of floofy black hair and milky white skin. 

For some reason, the boy’s voice was oddly cute and vaguely familiar.

Jisung shook himself out of his thoughts before picking his stuff up off the floor and heading towards Mr. Choi’s room. 

_ I didn’t even get to see what he looked like. _ He pouted.  _ Or get his name…. _

—————

  
“You think Mr. Seo found out about us leaving yesterday?” Donghyuck asked as he, Jisung, Jeno, and Jaemin walked out of the elective hall.

“Probably.” Jeno shrugged, indifferent to the whole ordeal. “I mean, why else would we be going there in the first place?”

The four of them were called out of dance practice, which they had after school, suddenly, and they were told to change back into their school uniforms as they weren’t coming back.

The group entered the English classroom and was met by Mr. Seo sitting on the teacher's desk whilst looking at his phone. 

They all stopped in the door frame, not knowing whether or not to signal the older that they were there.

“Go ahead and take a seat,” Mr. Seo spoke without looking up. “You can do your homework while we wait on the others.” 

_ Others?  _ Donghyuck mouthed as they all looked at each other with confusion before walking inside completely.

Jaemin shrugged at him as they all sat down in the back row. 

They all did what the teacher asked and got out whatever homework they needed to finish.

Jisung looked up from his biology notes and saw Mr. Seo impatiently tapping his foot while looking at his wristwatch.

He felt himself shiver as it gave him an uneasy feeling.

Meanwhile, the Korean class Mark and Renjun were in was interrupted by someone opening the door and walking inside. 

“Lele!” The nickname could be heard throughout the room as a black haired boy entered.

Chenle had grown to be quite known around the school because of his cute looks and intelligence, so everyone adored him at this point.

Around lunch, he could hear the whispers about him going from mouth to mouth of different students he didn’t even know. 

“Hi hi~” Chenle gave the students an adorable smile that reached his eyes, making everyone and the teacher coo. 

“Why aren’t you taking this class?” someone asked him.

“I’m actually fluent, so I don’t need this class quite honestly,” Chenle answered politely as the students' sounds of amazement could be heard throughout the room.

“Why are  _ you _ taking this class?” Mark asked Renjun while Chenle was bombarded with questions. ”Aren’t you fluent too?”

“I am, but if I take this class, I get an extra A grade.” 

The younger leaned back in his chair as Mark gave him a look. 

“What?” Renjun rolled his eyes. “I’m flunking math.” 

“Ah, I’m sorry, but I actually came with a message from Mr. Seo.” Chenle cut off a student asking him something as he looked around the room for two specific people. “He wants to see Mark and Renjun.” 

The aforementioned looked at each other before standing up and walking over to the front with their stuff.

Chenle slightly bowed his head to the class before the trio left the classroom. 

“Thank the lord. I thought I was going to die of boredom,” Renjun said as he smiled widely. “Anyways, why does Mr. Seo want to see us? He doesn’t stick around after school unless we have detention.”

Mark paused suddenly and turned towards Chenle with wide eyes. “We don’t have detention, do we?”

The youngest giggled. “No, you’re not in trouble. He just… needs you guys for something, but he didn’t tell me what for.”

“Sounds suspicious, but okay,” said Renjun with a nod.

“I know right? I haven’t talked to him since freshman year,” Mark agreed as a notification popped up on Chenle’s phone. 

“I just got accepted in the robotics team!” The black-haired grinned excitedly before looking up from his phone. “Apparently, they want me to be their captain.” 

“Nice!” Renjun squealed, which is not a Renjun-thing to do (unless Nomin... 😳), as he pinched the boy’s rosy cheeks. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”

“Jeno and Jaemin would be so jealous if they heard you say that,” Mark chuckled and then ruffled Chenle’s hair even though the younger was taller than him. “Congratulations, Lele. I guess we should probably get going now. I don’t want to keep Mr. Seo waiting.”

Renjun patted Chenle’s shoulder. “We’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yeah.” The boy nodded before putting his phone away. “Later….”

When they parted ways, Chenle went into a different hallway as the other two left for the English classroom on the complete opposite side of the school.

Chenle looked around to see if anyone was within listening range, and once he was sure no one was there, he leaned against the lockers and let out a breath.

He tapped his invisible ear-piece. “Test subjects 019 and 020 are on their way.” 

“Roger that,” replied the person on the other line. “How much longer do we have until the countdown sequence?” 

Chenle narrowed his eyes after checking his watch. “It says it just started.”

“IT WHAT?”

The boy flinched from the sudden shout ringing through his head. “Yeah, but I swear it wasn’t like that befo—”

“Shit, Taeyong’s gonna kill me for this.”

“Jae, you have time—”

“Come back as soon as possible. I’m teleporting there right now,” Jaehyun asserted sternly. “I’ll deal with this myself.”

Chenle sighed once the line cut out.

He looked down at his watch again to see the timer displaying 5 more minutes. 

_ Ugh, that chicken. It must have malfunctioned once I ran into Jisung.  _ He shook his head, heart racing slightly as he remembered how close he was to the younger. _ I should really be more careful next time.  _


	7. Plus 2– or 3

“Jaehyun, what are you doing here?” Johnny asked in a hushed whisper as the other scrambled into the room and rushed up to the teacher’s desk.

The four in the back looked at each other with confusion before going back to their work.

“The countdown started early,” Jaehyun stated, making Jeno perk up slightly with interest.

The teacher clicked his tongue and immediately relaxed. “Well, your wifey’s not gonna be happy about this.”

“Johnny, this is serious!” Jaehyun lowered his voice again after catching more unwanted attention. “Taeyong’s gonna make me sleep on the couch.”

Jisung turned towards his friends. “Do you guys have any idea what they’re saying?” 

Jeno shook his head and whispered back, “I heard something about a countdown, but that’s about it.”

“A countdown?” Donghyuck questioned, his voice rising a little with panic. “A countdown for what?”

Jaehyun then pushed Johnny away from his desk and typed frantically into the teacher’s laptop while looking back and forth from the clock anxiously. 

Jaemin gulped and said in a small voice, “I think we already know.” 

As they were all going to mass panic, the door opened, revealing Mark and Renjun. 

The four boys were about to stand up and tell their friends to leave as fast as possible, but it was too late. 

Everything went black.

—————

The five boys opened their eyes after a second to see that they weren’t in the classroom anymore, but they were in an empty beige room, and all of their stuff was gone. 

“FUCK!” Donghyuck cursed as he held onto Mark, who was frozen with shock. “WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Jeno yelled back at him as he held onto Renjun’s arm. “Also, what the fuck are we even wearing?”

“Spy outfits?” Renjun guessed as he ran his hands down the black fabric of the cargo jumpsuit he was wearing, weirdly calm about the whole ordeal. “I’m not complaining, though. You guys look like a full course meal.” 

“Wait, Injunnie, why aren’t you freaking out?” Jaemin asked as he kneeled down to wake up Jisung who was passed out on the floor again. 

Renjun shrugged. “I was expecting Mr. Seo to be an alien who was gonna take us to his home planet and feed us to his people for dinner, so I kinda prepared myself for the worst.”

“You and your conspiracy theories,” Jisung groaned out as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and ruffling his hair. “Where are we this time?” 

“This time?” the Chinese boy questioned as Jaemin helped the youngest stand up.

Before anyone could answer him, Jeno’s eyes met a tall, dark haired male who was just standing near the opposite side of the room with his arms crossed, watching the boys with suspicion. “Who’s that?”

The boy was undeniably handsome, and he was wearing the same outfit as everyone else. 

For some reason, it looked like he was interrupted from doing something or  _ someone _ because his cheeks were flushed, and his lips were red and slightly swollen. 

Jisung felt his blood run cold when he saw him.

A wave of recognition hit him, and before he could even think on it, his friend’s voice shook him out of his thoughts.

“I’ve never seen him before.” Donghyuck narrowed his eyes in confusion before turning back to his friends. “He wasn’t in the room with us, so I don't know why he’s here too.”

“Jaehyun and Mr. Seo aren’t with us either, so I’m guessing the teleportation thing pre-plans who it wants to take which is why Jaehyun wasn’t with us in the woods yesterday,” Jisung stated smartly, impressing the others with his theory. “But I still don’t get why I’m the only one who gets knocked out.”

Mark cleared his throat, finally gaining the voice to speak. “Can someone explain to me what’s going on?” 

Renjun turned towards his boyfriends and gave them a condescending look. “Yeah, what _ is _ going on?”

Jeno and Jaemin glanced at each other without saying anything, making the youngest sigh in disappointment. 

Jisung explained everything that happened the night before in the woods with Donghyuck adding details that he missed. 

Mark blinked and turned to his boyfriend. “...Is that why you asked me to do your homework?”

“Wait, what?” Donghyuck gave him a weird look. “That’s all you have to say about this?”

“I guess, but—”

“I don’t understand why they’d do this to us,” Renjun cut Mark off. “And why they chose us out of all people.”

“Neither do we,” said Jeno quietly. 

“Maybe that guy has some answers,” Jaemin suggested, gesturing towards the unknown person from earlier. 

Donghyuck, being the extroverted and spontaneous person he is, went over to the guy and dragged him over to the group. 

“Dude, what the fu—” The taller yelped, almost tripping his feet as his arm was pulled.

“I’m Donghyuck, and this is Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, and Jisung.” Donghyuck crossed his arms, looking up at the older with a glare. “Who are you, and who are you working for?”

“Wong Yukhei,” the boy introduced plainly with wide eyes, still a little shocked from the confrontation. “But you can call me Lucas.”

Renjun raised his eyebrows. “Chinese?” 

“Yup, my mom’s Thai, though.” 

_ Right, he spoke Mandarin in my dream _ , Jisung realized.  _ Now I’m even more sure that I’ve seen him before. It can’t just be a coincidence. _

Renjun was about to say something else, but Donghyuck interrupted him.

“Do you know about Jungwoo and the others?” he asked suddenly.

“J-Jungwoo?” Lucas stammered, his tone becoming quiet. “I-I’m sorry, I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

Donghyuck narrowed his eyes. “What? Is he your boyfriend or something?”

“Ye- I mean no!” Lucas stated, which made the younger raise an eyebrow. “Again, I don’t know anything. I just teleported here after soccer practice. I’m just as confused as you are.” 

“You’re lyi—”

Mark sighed and placed a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder before things could get heated. “Forget about it, sunshine.”

“Yeah, let’s just try and find a way out of here.” Renjun moved away from the group as he went up to the only door in the room. 

He tried to turn the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Of course it wouldn’t have been that easy,” Renjun muttered as he tapped his chin, looking around the empty room for something that might be of use before giving up. 

“What is it, Injunnie?” Jeno asked as they all watched the small Chinese with question.

“It’s locked, but if Mark just threw himself—” 

“I’m not breaking the door with my body, you weirdo,” Mark interrupted before looking around the empty room as well. “We just have to find a key or something.” 

Lucas cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention. “Don’t you already have one? I overheard you guys talking about it earlier.”

He then touched his neck, making Jisung, Jeno, and Jaemin look at each other as light bulbs went off in their heads. 

Donghyuck remained oblivious and was still glaring at Lucas for eavesdropping. 

Jaemin shook the boy by his shoulders. “Your necklace!”

Donghyuck widened his eyes and took off the gold chain he was wearing. “Oh, I forgot I was still wearing that.”

Jisung turned his attention back to Lucas who was wearing a proud smile at the other’s discovery. 

_ He knows more than he’s letting on.  _ Tilting his head in suspicion, Jisung made eye contact with the boy, Lucas following the others to the door after looking away quickly. _ Who exactly is this guy? _

The youngest just stood there in silence before realizing that the door still wasn’t open yet.

He shook his head at his struggling hyungs. 

“You’re turning the key in the wrong direction,” Jisung stated bluntly, making his friends nod and finally get the doorknob to turn. “I swear you all share one singular brain cell collectively.”

When the door finally opened, they were met by the same beige walls as before; however, it was a long hallway leading into more corridors that went into three different directions, all looking like what you’d see at a fancy hotel but without the rooms. 

Mark turned to the others. “So which way do we go?” 

“It doesn’t really matter, does it? They all look the same,” said Lucas as he started walking ahead with the others following him cautiously, the faintly flickering ceiling lights giving off a weirdly creepy vibe. 

The oldest led the boys along the patterned carpet into the right corridor, passing little tables with lamps and vases scattered around on the sidelines for decorations. 

They walked through the hallways in silence until they turned the corner which led to yet another split in directions, except one of the corridors reached a dead end. 

Donghyuck huddled closer to his boyfriend and sighed dreadfully. “Looks like we’re stuck doing some stupid maze.”

“Hey, we’ll get through this eventually.” Mark squeezed their intertwined hands comfortingly. “I hope.”


	8. Not Alone

“Psst.” Renjun caught Jisung’s attention. 

“What is it?” the youngest asked quietly as they drifted to the back of the group. 

“Is it just me and Hyuck, or is there something off about Lucas?” Renjun whispered as he eyed the mysterious boy leading them in the front. “I know it could all be by chance, but we still haven’t reached a dead end yet. It’s kinda sus, you know what I mean?”

Jisung nodded, understanding. “Yeah, I’ve been getting weird vibes from him too. I didn’t want to tell you guys, but I’ve seen him in my dream before, except he went by Xuxi.”

“What?” The older unintentionally raised his voice a little.

“Shh!” Jisung shushed him, luckily not drawing attention to themselves. “I don’t know, I had a weird dream last night while teleporting back. Maybe I’m just seeing things. My brain could have made this guy up along with that other cutie— I mean boy.”

“Jisung, you know your brain can’t make up different people, right?” Renjun’s eyes widened, ignoring the last bit of the younger’s sentence. “You can only see people you’ve seen in real life.” 

“What?” The youngest paused in his steps, thunder and rain beginning to be heard from outside. “I swear I’ve never seen Lucas before all of this, and you know I never go out with anyone other than you guys. We all would’ve seen him at school or something. Why did I see him in my dream?” 

“Guys, I found a door!” Lucas exclaimed before Renjun could answer. 

“That didn’t take long….” Renjun narrowed his eyes with suspicion and turned to Jisung before going to his boyfriends. “This conversation isn’t over.” 

The group quickened their pace to keep up with the oldest who made a beeline towards the end of the hallway they were in. 

“Wait, how do we know if it’s safe to go in?” Jaemin asked once they were all in front of the door. 

“I’ll check,” Mark volunteered before Lucas pushed him away slightly.

“No,” the oldest stated as the others looked at him weirdly. “I will.”

He turned the handle as everyone stepped back a bit.

“Are you sure about this, Xuxi?” Jisung’s eyes widened just as Lucas’s did. He didn’t mean for the nickname to slip out. 

Lucas turned around to meet eyes with the youngest. “How do you know— AH!” 

He didn’t even get to finish the sentence as two human looking arms grabbed him by the shoulders and forcefully pulled him into the room before the door slammed shut. 

Renjun screamed as all the lights flickered off, and he buried his face into Jaemin’s chest with Jeno holding onto them tightly. 

Lightning cracked loudly from outside, making Mark, Donghyuck, and Jisung flinch and hold onto each other with fear. 

The lights flickered back on after a second, showing that the door was now creaking open slightly.

They all blinked to try and adjust to the sudden brightness. 

“The spy has been eliminated,” a deep monotone robot voice sounded, making everyone flinch in surprise of the sudden noise. 

“I didn’t know this was a spy game,” Jeno muttered, everyone else silently agreeing with him. “Should we go inside and see what happened?” 

“Are you crazy?” Jaemin asked him with wide eyes. “What if whoever took Lucas is still in there?”

Mark shook his head as Jisung let go of him finally. “I doubt it. The person only took him because he was a spy, right? We’re probably safe for now unless you are one yourself.”

Renjun let go of his boyfriends. “Welp, there’s only one way to find out.”

He pushed the door open to reveal what was inside. 

Donghyuck gasped. “OH MY GOD!”

Everyone else just stood there in a shocked silence, their blood running cold once they saw the horrid sight, some turning away and hiding behind the others. 

Lucas’s body lay sprawled out on the wooden floor of the almost empty room, blood pouring from the hole in his heart onto the floor, and his throat was slit, shown by a thin red line right above his neck. 

Jisung felt bile rush up to his throat, but he gulped it painfully away before he could vomit. 

Mark slowly led them into the room to investigate. 

“I think he’s dead,” he stated with a quivering voice, trying not to look at the body below him. 

“I knew he seemed suspicious, but I didn’t expect him to die!” Donghyuck screeched as he shook Mark’s shoulders. 

_ This can’t be possible.  _ Jisung kept quiet while his friends were freaking out, not keeping his eyes off of Lucas.  _ It has to be fake... or planned at least.  _

His eyes widened suddenly. “Guys, look!”

Jisung’s friends turned around to see Lucas’s body flickering before disappearing completely, the blood on the floor vanishing with it as if nothing ever happened. 

What replaced him was a note laying there unopened. 

“Ugh, not this again,” Donghyuck groaned, less scared than he was before. 

Jeno took the piece of paper from the floor and handed it to Mark.

The oldest opened it and tilted his head as he tried to read it. “It’s in Chinese.”

Renjun took the note from Mark’s hands. “I’ll read it then.”

His eyes darted across the paper while everyone watched him expectantly until he suddenly froze and dropped the note with wide eyes, making his friends worry. 

Renjun went to the door they entered through and slammed it shut before locking it. “Make sure all the rest of the doors are locked.”

“Renjun, what’s going on?” Donghyuck asked panickedly as Mark, Jeno, and Jisung locked the other three doors quickly. 

The Chinese gulped as he pressed his back against the door, seemingly trying to keep something out. “Lucas wasn’t just killed by the system for being a spy. His death was a catalyst.”

“Catalyst?” Jaemin pulled Renjun close to him and Jeno, so they could hold him protectively. “What for?”

The lights started to flicker rapidly, and the room went ice cold, making them shiver.

“There is someone in this maze that has been set loose.” Renjun squeezed his eyes shut as footsteps could be heard outside, making everyone’s blood run cold.

Staying dead silent, they flinched as they heard the all too familiar sound of metal scraping against metal. 

Renjun whimpered in his boyfriends’ arms after a couple of minutes had gone by. “The note was in Chinese because _ I’m _ the one who can sense when he’s near ahead of time. If this happens and we’re still out in the hallway, it’s too late.  _ We’re dead. _ ”

—————

“So…” Donghyuck trailed off before screeching, “HOW THE  _ FUCK _ ARE WE GONNA GET OUT OF HERE WITH A MURDERER WANDERING AROUND WHEN WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO GO IN THE FIRST PLACE?”

“LUCAS SAID THERE WAS A MAP IN HERE SOMEWHERE!” Renjun yelled back as he shook his best friend’s shoulders. 

“Oh, wait, really?” Donghyuck dropped his voice and relaxed quickly, forgetting about what they just witnessed. “Where is it then?” 

“Hmm, Xuxi said it was over there somewhere,” the Chinese pointed towards the random wooden table in the middle of the room. 

“Xuxi?” Jisung questioned while the others went to go look for the map. 

“Oh, I forgot to tell you that was what Lucas signed the note with.” Renjun scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

“Wait, WHAT?” Jisung raised his voice suddenly, making his friends flinch. “So you’re saying he’s  _ actually _ the same guy from my dream?” 

If the Lucas from his dream was actually real, then there’s a possibility that the black-haired boy was as well.

“What dream?” Jeno asked. 

Jisung explained everything from appearing in an empty office room to waking up in his own bed in the quickest way possible. 

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Jaemin shouted, running his hands through the strands of his hair.

The youngest put his hands up defensively. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to freak you guys out!” 

“Well, look where we are now!” 

“Guys, it’s not that big of a deal,” Mark sighed exasperatedly. “Let’s just calm down and deal with the problem at hand.”

“Yeah, but the problem is there’s no map over here,” Jeno commented.

Jisung walked over to the table where the others were. “Maybe it’s a puzzle or something.”

“Chenle would be able to solve it,” Donghyuck pouted. “We all would’ve escaped by now if he was here.” 

Jisung remained indifferent while his friends nodded in agreement. 

“I guess we just have to work with what we have,” Jaemin said, trying to stay somewhat positive. 

“Mark’s a good leader, and Renjun is…” he trailed off while looking in the Chinese boy’s direction. “Well, violent, but that’s why we love him.”

“Wait, have you guys tried checking under the table?” Jisung asked suddenly, stopping Renjun from strangling his boyfriend.

“No,” Jeno replied with a tilt of his head. “Why would it be  _ under _ the table?”

Without answering, Jisung placed his hand underneath the tabletop and pressed the button that was conveniently placed there. 

He smirked coolly as the square indented in the middle of the table was lifted, revealing a small compartment with a piece of paper and a red pen inside. 

Jisung looked back up to see that everyone’s jaw had dropped.

“That’s convenient,” said Donghyuck as Mark took out the map and opened it.

“Holy shit,” the oldest muttered, his eyes panning over the intricate design of the maze while his friends peered over his shoulder. “This place is massive.”

“What does NCT stand for?” Renjun asked as he pointed to the large letters in the middle of the maze.

“National childbirth trust?” Jeno guessed.

“Isn’t that in London?” Jaemin looked at his boyfriend who shrugged. 

“It has to not be that,” Mark reasoned as he put down the map and grabbed the red pen that came with it. “Okay, so does anyone remember what directions we had to take to get here?”

“Right, middle, right, left, left, right, middle,” Donghyuck stated without missing a beat.

His friends turned towards him, surprised at the tanned male’s memory skills. 

Donghyuck gave them all a look. “What?”

“Nothing, sunshine. Just repeat what you said.” Mark smiled at his boyfriend gratefully and pulled him closer by the waist, making Jisung gag in the background. 

Mark clicked the pen and started drawing a line from the entrance of the maze as Donghyuck did as he was asked. 

“Huh, I guess those little squares are the safe rooms Lucas was talking about,” Renjun commented after the line was drawn.

Jisung narrowed his eyes and pointed to a dashed line near the exit. “What’s that then?”

“I have no idea,” the Chinese answered as he tilted his head. “He didn’t say anything about that.”

They all brushed it off because none of them knew what it was either. 

Working together, the six of them then created a path through the maze with enough safe rooms to survive in record time.

“Are we ready to go?” Mark asked, linking arms with Donghyuck.

“Yep,” Jaemin answered with a sigh for all of them. “Is it safe to go out?”

Renjun nodded. “We are for now. He’s waiting for us to start moving.”

“That still doesn’t sit well with me.” Jisung shook his head and followed the others to the door they planned on going through. 

Mark turned around to look at Jisung, Jeno, and Jaemin. “The bottoms are with me in the front while you three take up the back. Got it?”

They nodded while Renjun and Donghyuck gave each other a look and shrugged, not saying anything about being called bottoms.

Jeno and Jaemin were still iffy about not being beside their other boyfriend, but they knew it was for the best in order to get out of there. 

“And Renjun,” Mark placed his hand on the Chinese boy’s shoulder. “I trust you to keep us safe. Our fate lies in your hands.”


	9. Backup Plan

“Someone lock it!” Donghyuck screamed panickedly as he held the door shut before Jaemin hurriedly followed his word. 

Mark hugged his boyfriend, calming him down while Jeno and Jaemin did the same to Renjun. 

Jisung squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head against the wall of the safe room as the lights flickered.  _ Go away, go away, go away.  _

They were a little more than halfway through the maze when they had to run and hide for the second time. 

“Why can’t he just wait outside to kill us?” Mark asked after a few minutes had gone by, making everyone look at him weirdly. “I mean, not that I’m complaining but….”

Renjun wriggled himself out of his boyfriends’ grasp. “It must be some kind of twisted game like Five Nights at Freddy’s or something. He spawns somewhere different every time.”

“I hate this so much,” Donghyuck groaned. “Why the fuck is it us out of all people?”

Jaemin shook his head. “We have to get to the bottom of this once—  _ if _ we get out of here.” 

Jisung finally stopped self-isolating and went towards the others. “I was gonna say that we could ask that Chenle kid, but then I realized that we might die if we do.”

“This whole thing is supposed to be kept a secret, isn’t it?” Jeno reminded darkly.

“Whatever, we’re almost there, so that’s good,” said Mark, trying to be positive. “We just have to stick together.”

“Yeah,” Jisung agreed. “Is it safe to go out yet?” 

Renjun nodded. “He’s busy trying to figure out where he is.”

“How do you know when he’s there anyways?” The youngest asked with the tilt of his head. 

“I get a weird feeling on the back of my neck when he’s close, and I’ve been having visions of what he’s doing ever since I read the note.” 

“Nice,” Jisung sighed.  _ What’s next? Dreaming about people you’ve never seen before without them knowing— oh, wait.  _

Mark glanced at the map before leading the boys to the door they planned on going through.

Donghyuck grabbed the door knob before letting go with a shriek as it started to jiggle on its own. 

Heart beating twice as fast, he locked the door again quickly while holding his chest before turning to his best friend angrily. “I thought you said it was safe to go out!”

Donghyuck’s angry facade dropped to a guilty and worried one when he saw that Renjun was in no shape to argue. 

The Chinese was holding his head in his hands, slightly shaking in pain while both Jeno and Jaemin tried to comfort him by rubbing his shoulders. 

“T-That’s not him,” Renjun stated shakily, bringing his hands down and revealing his tear-streaked face. “W-We still need to redirect either way. I guess giving me pain is some kind of warning.”

“WHAT WAS THAT THEN?” Donghyuck screeched while Mark dragged them back to the middle of the room. 

“I don’t know!” Renjun retaliated as Jisung took the map from Mark’s hands and started redrawing the path. “Lucas didn’t say anything about that. It could be something invisible for all we know.”

“Sounds plausible,” said Jeno, referring to three specific people from the night before. 

“They were actually really nice, though,” Jaemin muttered almost as though he read his boyfriend’s mind. “After they, you know, almost scared us to death.”

“Okay, I found another route we can take,” Jisung interrupted, surprising his friends at how fast he was. 

Renjun looked to where Jisung was pointing before looking up at him with wide eyes. “Are you kidding? He’s literally in the hallway on the opposite side of it.”

“He moved  _ that _ fast?” The youngest then shook his head and waved the map at the smaller. “We still need to pass him in order to go in the right direction. There’s no other way.”

“Well,” Jaemin gulped as Mark grudgingly led them to the new door they were going to go through. “Let’s just hope we’re quiet enough.”

Mark unlocked and opened the door slowly, still checking the corridor even though they knew the killer was on the other side. 

He motioned for the others to follow him outside, not a single word spoken between them as you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. 

Jisung silently walked in front and led them all to the end of the hallway where they reached another split in directions.

They took a right turn and passed another door which led to the same room they had just exited. 

Renjun grimaced and held the back of his neck firmly as Donghyuck stopped them once they reached the end of the hallway. 

The murderer was pulling at one of the door handles just around the corner. 

_ He’s right there _ , Donghyuck mouthed to his friends after peaking his head out to look, gesturing towards the small and petite man wearing a black, blood-stained facemask.

“What do we do now?” Jaemin whispered, him and Jeno rubbing Renjun’s shoulders. 

Jisung glanced behind him into the empty hallway with paranoia as he felt like someone was watching him. “Should we make a run for it?”

“Are you sure there’s not another route we could take?” Donghyuck complained quietly as he looked at the map the youngest was holding. 

Jisung nodded coldly, causing an unwanted shiver to run up their spines.

“Hmm.” Renjun tapped his chin as he looked at the map as well. “Obviously, we can’t run past him, so we’ll have to distract him and go around the whole place until we get back here again.”

“Good thinking,” Mark complemented. “So how are we going to distra—”

“AH, SPIDER!” Jisung shrieked as it had fallen from the ceiling and landed on his arm. 

“Shit, RUN!” Donghyuck ordered as Jisung shook the arachnid off of him, the others quickly following behind him. 

Jisung gripped the map tightly while running, only catching a glimpse of the murderer bounding behind them. “Do you have any idea where we’re going? I’m the one with the map here!”

“Of course I do!” Donghyuck yelled back after running through a couple more corridors. “GO LEFT!”

“HOW DO YOU REMEMBER THIS SHIT BUT NOT ANYTHING WE LEARNED IN HISTORY?” Jaemin screamed as they turned into the next hallway, already losing energy. 

“I DON’T NEED TO KNOW WHAT HITLER’S GRANDMOTHER’S SECOND DOG WAS CALLED TO SURVIVE A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION!”

"GUYS, I DON'T THINK RENJUN’S OKAY!" Jeno found himself pushing his pale boyfriend forward after they ran through a couple hallways past the room they were in before. 

Donghyuck glanced back at his best friend worriedly before leading them into another corridor. “THERE’S ANOTHER SAFE ROOM OVER HERE SOMEWHERE.” 

No one said anything as they continued running, everyone short on breath.

They were only inches from the door when Jaemin and Donghyuck felt themselves getting dragged by their jumpsuit and pushed into a different corridor. 

“What the-” they started before realizing that it was none other than Jisung. 

The youngest had done that to throw the person chasing them off, making it look like they had split while the others entered the safe room. 

The three of them quickly entered the room from their side of the hallway before locking the door behind them. 

The lights flickered as Donghyuck and Jaemin ran over to Jeno who was holding a weak Renjun in his arms, the Chinese’s face contorted in pain. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jaemin asked his boyfriend softly, moving the smaller’s sweaty hair out of his face. 

“H-He was trying to slow me down,” Renjun sighed shakily as Donghyuck rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “I’m fine now, though. He spawned somewhere different again.”

“We should probably get going before he finds us,” said Jisung as he watched Jeno and Jaemin kiss the top of their smaller boyfriend’s head. 

Mark nodded, still exhausted from running earlier. “We only have a few more corridors to get through. We can do this.”

—————

“So we just have to go through this hallway right here…” Mark muttered as he looked down at the map and walked at the same time, Renjun a little ahead of the others.

Renjun freezed suddenly, making Jeno accidentally bump into him and everyone else to stop as well.

Holding the smaller’s hips softly, Jeno asked shakily, “Where is he?”

“That’s the thing.” Renjun turned and looked up at the others with wide eyes. “I don’t know.”

“What?” Donghyuck shouted. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I just can’t sense him anymore!”

“Um, guys?” Mark called the others shakily, everyone’s attention turning to him. “The map.”

They all watched in horror as the map flickered before disappearing from Mark’s hands. 

Jisung’s blood ran cold. “So  _ that’s _ what the dashed line does.”

“ _ Please _ tell me you remember where to go!” Jaemin cried as he shook Donghyuck’s shoulders. 

“I hope you remember too, Donghyuck,” said a somewhat sexual voice from behind them that belonged to the short male they’ve been running from the whole time, his beautiful eyes shining in the flickering light. 

He brought his knife up and ran his finger across the blade as the boys backed away with fear. “I’m  _ sure _ you don’t want to end up like Xuxi, do you?”

“RUN!” Mark ordered before dragging his frozen boyfriend by the arm, the others quickly following his word.

“IF I DIE, I’M HAUNTING YOU ALL!” Donghyuck screeched as he led them all into a different hallway, an extra pair of footsteps bounding behind them. “ESPECIALLY YOU, MARK!” 

“Bold of you to assume that I WON’T BE DEAD BY THEN!” Mark answered angrily as they all ran down the corridor, accidentally knocking off lamps and vases. 

“Can’t the two of you stop arguing like an old married couple for one second?” Jisung shouted at them irritably. “We’re literally RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES right now, and I’m  _ trying _ to think of what I should say before I die!”

Not having the energy to retaliate, Donghyuck managed to roll his eyes while the murderer continued to get closer from behind.

“There’s the exit!” Jaemin said excitedly, referring to the bright light at the end of the hallway. 

However, everyone’s happiness had to be taken away right at the last minute. 

“AH!” Renjun felt himself being dragged backwards by his jumpsuit. 

The rest of the group stopped in their tracks and turned around to see what was wrong out of protective instinct. 

Renjun was unfortunately captured in the hands of the killer, a knife being held to his throat. 

Jeno and Jaemin seethed, lunging towards the man holding their boyfriend with anger.

“Not so fast.” The murderer moved away with ease, Renjun still in his grasp. 

The others pulled Jeno and Jaemin back worriedly before they could get hurt too.

The killer waved his knife carelessly at the two and tutted, “Did you forget that you have no power over me? Or, were you two  _ blinded _ by love?”

He was right. They didn’t have any weapons to fight back with. 

Renjun gulped before whimpering out, “Just go without me; otherwise, you’ll get hurt too.”

“No!” his friends retaliated, Donghyuck holding back tears in fear for his best friend. 

“Maybe you should listen to him,” the murderer purred, making Renjun squeeze his eyes shut as the sharp side of the knife brushed against his skin. “I don’t think you’ll want to see me slit his throat, or even… chop off his limbs. One. By. One.”

Jaemin’s eyes turned dark with anger while Jisung felt tears start to blur his vision, a lump forming in his throat.

Jeno growled lowly, “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Renjun felt his foot hit one of the tables placed on the sides of the hallway as his captor laughed maniacally. 

Thinking fast, Renjun reached out to grab the white vase on top of the table while the killer was distracted. 

_ “Fucking bitch! _ ” he yelled in his native tongue as he bashed the vase against the murderer’s head, the knife dropping to the floor as the man’s grip on the Chinese loosened. 

Everyone’s eyes widened before they started running again as Renjun wriggled his way free, Jeno and Jaemin still frozen in shock.

Even though it really wasn’t the time, the two of them thought that what their boyfriend just did was incredibly hot.

“Let’s go!” Renjun grabbed his boyfriends’ hands, and they started running towards the exit as well. 

With his long legs as an advantage, Jisung made it to the light at the end of the hallway first.

Everything went black for a second before he saw himself reappear in a large room complete with bookshelves and a mini fireplace next to the couch. 

“Ow,” Jisung grunted when he fell to the floor, his friends crashing on top of him. 

A surprised gasp was heard from the other side of the room. 

“Jungwoo!” The four from the night before scrambled up off of each other and went to hug the familiar male as Mark and Renjun watched with a relieved smile.

The older chuckled and hugged them back. “I knew you guys would make it.” 

“That was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced…” Donghyuck breathed out shakily as they let go. “Other than Mark’s ramen noodle hair.”

Mark hugged his boyfriend tightly after. “I know I should be offended, but I could honestly care less.” 

Someone flickered into existence in front of them suddenly, making the boys freeze.

“Thank god, you made it out alive!” The murderer took off his mask as tears ran down his pretty face. “I really didn’t want to kill you kids.” 

“Taeyong, they’re fine now,” Jungwoo comforted as he patted the man’s shoulder, everyone else’s eyes widening at the unexpected sight.

“You were actually going to kill us?” Jaemin asked quietly.

“We’re being forced to follow his orders, but…” Taeyong sniffed and pulled the boys into a warm embrace like the mother he is. “I would have let myself die instead to keep you guys safe.”

Jisung narrowed his eyes as they let go of each other.  _ They’re working for someone against their own will.  _

“But how was Renjun able to know you were there?” Jaemin asked as he pulled his Chinese boyfriend close to him by the waist. “And… why did it hurt him?” 

“Oh… right.” Taeyong wiped some of his tears away as he moved towards Renjun carefully who was backing further into Jaemin’s chest, Jeno glaring at the oldest with mallace.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I swear,” Taeyong said softly, making Renjun calm down a bit.

Flinching a little, Renjun allowed Taeyong to peel something off the back of his neck. 

In the oldest’s hands was a clear patch, slowly turning back into its original pale white color. 

“Ew, what even is that?” Jisung asked, watching it disappear with the snap of Taeyong’s fingers.

“It’s  _ called _ a human transmitter.” Taeyong peeled a similar clear patch from his own neck. “This device can connect people together to share thoughts and emotions by sending tiny electrical currents through the person’s body into the brain.”

“Cool, more technology,” Jisung muttered under his breath. 

Just as he said that, another person appeared in the room, wearing the same blood stained outfit he had on before. 

“Snoopy!” he called, ignoring the others who were staring open-mouthed at him as he ran towards Jungwoo.

“Xuxi!” The aforementioned gave Lucas a hug before kissing him. 

The boys took a second to process this. 

“YOU’RE ALIVE?” they then shouted at the same time, making the couple flinch and let go of each other quickly. 

Lucas gave them a goofy smile and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Yeah… it was all fake. Sorry about that.”

“You better be. That shit was scarring,” Donghyuck muttered, irritated. 

“Right, you should all go to sleep before the simulation deletes again,” Jungwoo said, his cheeks still painted a crimson red. 

“Oh, of course.” Donghyuck rolled his eyes, voice oozing with sarcasm. “This hard wooden floor is  _ so _ welcoming. I should have figured that I was supposed to take a nice long nap on it.”

Taeyong sighed at the younger and pressed a button on the wall, making the bookshelves lower into the floor and return as three individual beds. “Anyways, I have a specific ass to beat. See you.”

The boys remained speechless as Taeyong teleported away.

Jungwoo pushed them towards the beds impatiently. “Sleep.”

“But—” Donghyuck started to complain while the others did as the older said, but his boyfriend immediately covered his mouth. 

The boys obviously wanted answers; however, Jungwoo and Lucas weren’t going to tell them that easily.

“Sunshine, I know you’re tired. Let’s just sleep,” Mark said softly, his eyes droopy with exhaustion as he made his boyfriend lay next to him on one of the beds.

“Fine,” Donghyuck complied and snuggled into Mark’s chest. 

Jisung felt his eyes close, too tired to cringe at his friends’ clinginess before feeling himself fall asleep. 


	10. Oh, it’s you again

Jisung appeared in the office room again, but he was wearing his school uniform instead of the sniper outfit he had on earlier.

He let himself sit at one of the desks without questioning as the screen turned itself on. 

Instead of being in a library, the cute, black-haired boy was sitting on top of a table in a lab with a gray-haired, middle-aged man pacing around the room, seeming to be looking for something. 

Jisung didn’t need a remote this time because the two on the screen were speaking in Korean. 

“Ah, yes,” the man exclaimed after opening a drawer and finding what he was looking for. “The serum.”

The boy narrowed his eyes as the older flicked the needle with a glowing blue liquid inside. “Are you sure there isn’t another option?”

“Don’t be silly.” The man lifted the boy’s chin which made the younger flinch. “It’s the only way you can get out of here. Take it, or leave it.”

Jisung could tell the boy was uncomfortable, and he wanted nothing more than to slap that man’s hand away. 

The older injected the liquid into the black-haired’s arm, making Jisung wince at just the sight of it. 

The boy didn’t react at all and watched as the man finished what he was doing before leaving the room.

Closing his eyes, the boy sighed and laid himself down on the table. “I only have about ten minutes before the serum kicks in, so I’ll explain this as simple as possible.” 

Jisung froze when he realized that the boy was talking to him. 

The boy continued, “They want me for another experiment, and this serum is supposed to knock me unconscious, and it’ll prevent me from drowning.”

_ Experiments?  _ Jisung felt angry at whoever ‘they’ were.  _ Wait, he’s gone through more than one? Also, how can you even- _

“I can’t really explain it all right now, but just know that I figured out how to alter time and a person’s subconscious for you to be able to see me in your dreams,” the black-haired stated firmly. “I was taken as a child into this company just for them to use me, and they are planning something even worse than what you’re going through now, which is why I designed this. To expose them without getting caught.” 

Jisung’s eyes widened during that whole explanation, and even though he was in a dream, he still felt his heart beat a little faster. 

He didn’t know whether it was because of the scariness of the situation he was in or if it was the fact that the black-haired managed to set the entire dream-thing up himself.

Jisung did say he was into the intelligent type.

“Do you see the shelf to your right?” asked the boy on the screen.

Jisung turned his head to look at the empty white shelf right next to the smartboard before nodding even though the other couldn’t see him.

“The next time you end up here, grab whatever’s there, and you’ll end up with it in your hands once you wake up.” The boy ran his hand through his hair. “All you have to do is repeat every time, and the plan will work. I know this is confusing, but you’ll find out more soon enough.” 

Jisung didn’t have the heart to doubt and ignore the boy’s instructions even though it was completely absurd.

Afterall, anything was possible at this point. 

“Anyways,” the black-haired continued. “I ran into you at school today. Did you notice?”

Widening his eyes, Jisung was reminded of when he got knocked over by someone who suspiciously felt familiar, and he just now realized that the black-haired was wearing the same school uniform as him.

He kind of regretted not stopping the boy to talk to him earlier.

“I can tell you’re quite popular with the ladies,” the black-haired mentioned with a cute little giggle that may or may not have made Jisung’s heart melt. “Not gonna lie, I can see why they like you.”

If Jisung could blush in a dream, he would be as red as a tomato right about now. 

“However, that one blonde girl Lottah, I think her name is, really irks me. I heard her say some homophobic shit about your friends earlier.”

Jisung sighed at that.  _ As if she couldn’t get any worse….  _

The other boy pouted slightly. “You know, some people are like slinkies. They have no real purpose, but it always makes you smile when you push them down a flight of stairs.”

Jisung forgot about Lottah’s antics and smiled softly at the boy’s witty humor.

“I think this is enough talking before I pass out,” the black-haired mumbled quietly, still loud enough for the other to hear. “I’ll see you soon, Jisung Park.”

—————

Jisung woke up with a start. 

Expecting to be in his bed again like last time, Jisung was surprised to find out that he had appeared sprawled out in the middle of the living room floor like a starfish, still wearing his school uniform. 

“Oh my god, you’re okay!” his mother exclaimed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she helped her son off the floor. 

“Mom….” Jisung was more than happy to see her again, resting his chin on her head as they embraced. 

“You don’t know how worried I was.” The woman pulled away and cupped the boy’s cheeks. “Are your friends okay too?”

“Yeah, they’re fine,” Jisung answered, still trying to process everything he had experienced in the past few hours. “What time is it? And… where’s my stuff?” 

His mother dragged him over to the stairs. “It’s 5AM right now, and your stuff was delivered here last night. Mr. Seo is such a nice man.” 

_ It’s a shame he works at some shitty company _ , Jisung opted to say in his head, not wanting to overwhelm his mother with more stress. 

“Anyways, you should go shower before school starts,” the woman continued. “I can smell your sweat from a mile away.”

“Thanks for the intell.” Jisung smiled at his mother softly before going upstairs, finding his stuff laid out neatly in his room. 

She had smiled back, but the smile looked so broken it made Jisung feel bad, her eyes glistening with worry.

After getting ready for the day and saying goodbye to his mother, he shut the door behind him before glancing at the older boy waiting outside, Renjun sending a wary look back at him. 

Jisung went to school as normal, and it was until afterwards when things took another turn for the worse yet again. 

This time, he and his friends were teleported away just barely after the last class of the day ended.

Jisung groaned, his head hurting again as he felt someone shaking him awake. 

He opened his eyes to see himself face to face with Mark, who finally released his grip on his shoulders and moved away. 

Mark stood as Jisung sat up and looked around. 

They were now located in what looked like a swimming hall, the air uncomfortably sultry. 

The main focal point of the whole place was the giant pool right in front of them, the deepest part being 12ft. 

Jisung stood up and realized that he and his friends were wearing white t-shirts paired with black swim shorts, so whatever they needed to help them escape was probably hidden in the water somewhere.

Renjun squinted as he was trying to see what was at the other end of the pool, his boyfriends shamelessly drooling over his delectable thighs. 

He widened his eyes. “Guys, I think there’s someone locked inside over there!”

“I’ll go check it,” Mark offered before going to the other side of the pool, the others quickly following him.

The group watched Mark step up to the pool edge and pull his shirt over his head before throwing it over to the side. 

The echo of Jaemin hyena cackling at Donghyuck’s flushed face drowned out the noise of Mark diving into the water. 

While the boys waited for the oldest to come back up, they were left pondering on who could possibly be down there. 

“Guys!” Mark’s sudden voice interrupted their short conversation, catching their attention. 

He pulled himself out of the pool as everyone rushed towards him. “It’s Chenle!”

“Is he dead?” Renjun worriedly screeched before trying to catch a glimpse of the younger boy through the water to no avail.

“I checked his pulse,” Mark panted, still trying to catch his breath. “He’s still alive, but I don’t know how.”

Renjun looked up at the older with a condescending look. “Well? How do we get him out then?”

“There was a lock on the cage, so the key must be inside the pool somewhere.”

Donghyuck looked down into the deep water warily. “So we have to search through this gigantic pool for one tiny ass key?” 

“Looks like it,” Jisung answered while carefully looking into the clear water as well, the silver cage at the bottom shimmering in the hall lights. 

Donghyuck gulped before muttering a sarcastic, “Great.”

Jeno pointed to a corner inside the pool. “Hey, that tile kinda looks loose.”

“Nice of you to volunteer to go swim down there and check it out,” said Donghyuck as he pushed the older towards the edge of the pool. 

“Wow, thanks.” Jeno rolled his eyes before walking over to the other side.

He took a deep breath and dove into the water, keeping his shirt on unlike Mark. 

The tension was thick in the air as everyone watched Jeno swim to the bottom, his body completely visible in clear blue water. 

Jeno removed the loose tile and started to swim back up again, the others unable to tell if he had found something or not. 

Jaemin let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when Jeno finally reached the surface.

“Did you find the key?” Mark asked hopefully as Jeno splashed around in the water, trying to catch his breath before swimming towards the edge of the pool.

Jeno didn’t answer as he leaned one arm on the edge and stuck out the other in the air, showing a small silver key between his fingers.

His friends cheered gratefully now that they were finally getting somewhere.

“Swim over to the cage and try it!” Mark yelled as Donghyuck stayed close to him, slowly backing the two of them away from the water.

They watched as Jeno took another deep breath and dove down to the deepest part of the pool where Chenle was.

Jeno struggled with the lock for a bit before swimming back up to the surface. 

“It— It didn’t work,” he said between breaths as his boyfriends went to help him out of the water. 

Mark’s mood dropped. “It didn’t?”

Jeno was breathing heavily as he was pulled out of the pool. “Yeah, we have to find more keys to see which one works.”

“Oh my lord,” Donghyuck groaned before his friend interrupted him.

“You’re bleeding!” Jaemin exclaimed as he reached for Mark's shirt and pressed it against Jeno’s arm.

Jeno flinched slightly as he felt the material hit his wound. “There was barbed wire around the cage. I accidentally scratched myself while trying the key.”

“Great, even more of a challenge,” Jisung muttered while Renjun and Jaemin were occupied with Jeno. 

“So what do we do now?” Donghyuck asked nervously. “Do we just endlessly swim around looking for loose tiles?”

Mark gave him a blank look. “There’s not much else to do really….”

“Are you serious? Why do we even have to get him in the first place?” Donghyuck complained as he pulled on his boyfriend’s arm.

“Chenle’s our friend!” Renjun shouted angrily. “Of course we have to get him out!”

“Yeah, and he probably knows how to get out of here anyways,” Jisung defended as he tried to catch a clearer view of the caged boy’s face. 

Donghyuck pouted and whined like a child, still tugging on Mark’s arm. “Please, please don’t make me go in there!” 

“Hyuckie, you’ll be fine. I’ll be right there with you.” Mark comforted as he patted his boyfriend’s head, chuckling slightly at how cute the younger was being.

“But what if I get scared suddenly and open my mouth and then water fills my lungs and I drown? I don’t wanna drown!” Donghyuck rambled panickedly, starting to tug on the strands of his hair.

Mark removed the younger’s hands from his head and replaced them with his own before kissing his forehead softly. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be here to save you.”

“Really?” Donghyuck asked quietly. 

“Yes.” Mark kissed his nose before holding his hand. “Believe it or not, I used to be a lifeguard in Canada.”

“Sure….” Donghyuck nodded without saying anything else, still nervous about going in the deep water. 

“So, we’re all diving, right?” Jisung asked as he psyched himself up to go in the pool grudgingly.

“Yup,” Mark and Jeno said at the same time. 

“Aren’t you still exhausted from earlier?” Jaemin asked, still holding the white shirt against Jeno’s arm, which was getting stained with blood. 

Jeno shook his head. “I’m fine, but the pressure down there is no joke.”

Jaemin huffed at the response and removed the shirt now that his boyfriend had stopped bleeding. 

Renjun had already moved from his boyfriends to the pool edge, his feet dipping in the water slightly as he inhaled the warm air. “Welp, let’s just get this over with.”

“Sunshine, let’s go,” Mark grunted as he tried to drag his stubborn boyfriend who wouldn’t move his feet towards the pool, Renjun already swimming towards another loose tile under the water. 

Mark jumped into the water while Donghyuck was left hesitating at the pool’s edge.

“Come on,” Mark called encouragingly before helping his boyfriend into the water carefully.

“It’s cold,” Donghyuck whined, finding the need to complain about his discomfort.

“You’ll get used to it. Now deep breath,” Mark instructed before he dove under the water, bringing Donghyuck with him. 

Jisung sighed as he looked around the pool for any other loose tiles that weren’t being checked yet. 

Once he found the only one left, he took a deep breath before diving into the pool, swimming past Jeno and Jaemin who were after a different tile on the other side. 

Jisung felt his ears pop as he went to the bottom of the pool, something shiny peaking out in the distance.

He moved the tile away quickly to grab the key, and he swam back up to the surface before he could lose too much oxygen. 

Jisung climbed over the edge of the pool while breathing heavily, not minding the coldness as he went over to the side where the cage was. 

He caught his breath while waiting for all of his friends to try the keys they found, all of them failing before coming back up to sit down and rest. 

Jisung dived into the pool after Jeno patted his back encouragingly, feeling his ears pop again because of the pressure. 

The cage was stationed at the very bottom with barbed wire connected to some of the bars which were dangerously moving around like seaweed.

Jisung fumbled with the lock on the gate near the top of it, Chenle sitting on the floor with his head facing down. 

The key’s numbers 021 matched the ones on the lock, so it was a perfect fit. 

Jisung opened the gate quickly and grabbed the other boy’s arm, pulling him forward out of the cage and revealing his face. 

A wave of recognition and shock went through Jisung’s body, making him widen his eyes and gasp in surprise, completely forgetting that he was still underwater. 

Water filled his lungs, causing Jisung to push himself from the cage and swim back up to the top panickedly. 

His heart beat at an animalistic pace, feeling himself become fainter and fainter as spots covered his vision. 

Jaemin helped Jisung out of the pool as the younger started coughing up the water he had just unintentionally inhaled. 

The others watched him worriedly as he caught his breath before standing up again. 

“So you’re telling me,” Jisung started before pointing towards the open cage in the pool and screeching, “THAT  _ THAT’S _ CHENLE?”

His friends flinched at the sudden loudness in his voice.

“Uh, yeah?” Donghyuck raised his eyebrows as Jisung started pacing the floor. “Are you saying he’s not?”

“No-” Jisung froze in his steps abruptly.  _ Should I really explain myself? What if they see Chenle differently, and they won’t want to help him anymor— _

“What is it then?” Renjun asked impatiently. 

The youngest blinked.  _ Why do I care so much about a boy I don’t even know?  _

He then sighed reluctantly, “Fine, I’ll tell you, but you guys have to promise me that you won’t blame Chenle for any of this.” 

“Yeah, just tell us what’s going on!” Jaemin exclaimed as he started to sound a bit worried, the others nodding just as anxiously.

“So, do you guys remember the dream I had about Lucas a couple nights ago?” Jisung started quietly. 

Donghyuck’s jaw dropped. “Don’t tell me….”

Jisung hesitated a little before he continued, “Chenle was the other person in my dream, and he appeared in my dream last night too, but he actually knows who I am, and there was like so much other stuff that I can’t really explain right now without looking like a crackhead. So, uh….” 

He shook his head at how dumb he sounded while his friends were in a shocked silence. “Just please don’t blame him for all of this. He’s being used by that company, and I’m also not allowed to tell you guys the rest of this until it’s over but like—” 

“Jisung, you’re rambling,” Mark interrupted and gave the youngest an understanding smile while the rest of them were still trying to process this new information. “Go save Chenle. I’ll deal with them while you're gone.”

“Thanks.” Jisung numbly gave a small smile back and glanced at his friends one last time before going to the pool edge. 

_ You’re lucky I care about you, Chenle _ , he thought as he took a deep breath before diving into the cool water, swimming towards the black-haired near the bottom. 

Jisung wrapped his arm around Chenle’s and pushed themselves upwards towards the surface, not noticing the sharp barbed wire scratching against the older boy’s skin.

Chenle’s eyes opened once his head was out of the water, and he gasped for air which he was deprived of for the past 15 hours.  _ I’m alive.  _

“Chenle!” the others cheered with relieved smiles while they were standing near the pool edge with anticipation. 

_ I guess they took the info well _ , Jisung thought gratefully as he dragged Chenle along. 

The older removed his arm out of Jisung’s grasp stubbornly and swam up to the pool’s edge, pulling himself up with his limbs feeling like jelly. 

Chenle reached out to grab Jisung’s hand to help pull him out of the water as well.

Ignoring the feeling of sparks emitting from their intertwined hands, Jisung underestimated his and Chenle’s strength, and they ended up in a… questionable position with Jisung caging the older between his arms. 


	11. Two Types of Chemistry

The smell of strawberries mixed with chlorine immediately filled Jisung’s nose. 

The two of them caught their breath, indifferent to what was going on around them.

Jisung’s eyes widened once he realized what position they had coincidentally ended up in.

His heart raced as he looked into the half-lidded eyes of the boy he was hovering over.

Jisung had never seen a sight so ethereal: Chenle underneath him with flushed cheeks, panting for air through his plump and kissable soft pink lips.

The school uniform the older wore was soaked, making the outline of his abs and collarbone visible through the thin fabric. 

Jisung licked his lips, wanting nothing more than to take the black-haired boy right then and there. 

“Can you get off of me now?” Chenle asked casually with a small smirk as he looked into the younger’s eyes with his own soft brown ones. 

“Right, sorry!” Jisung slapped himself mentally and scrambled off of the older, his cheeks turning a bright shade of crimson with embarrassment. _What the fuck is wrong with me?_

“Wow, that looked just like a scene from a yaoi,” Jaemin commented with a cheeky grin, the youngest still worked up about how hot Chenle was even when he was caught staring. 

Jeno slapped his boyfriend’s arm playfully. “You act like we don’t do that to Renjun.” 

While his friends bickered, Jisung shook away his unholy thoughts and helped Chenle sit up, handling him gently as if the older was glass. 

“A-Are you okay?” he asked Chenle who winced slightly.

“Yeah.”

Jisung felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment again once he saw that his friends had stopped talking and were now staring at him questioningly. _Since when did Park Jisung stutter because of a cute boy?_

Chenle yelped as he suddenly felt a sharp pain coursing through him, quickly causing the youngest to turn his attention back to him with worry.

“Ugh, it… hurts,” he groaned and squeezed his eyes shut as he clutched the side of his head.

Jisung instinctively brushed the older’s hand away gently to check the injury, feeling how soft Chenle’s skin felt against his own. 

The others who were watching the two’s interactions looked at each other with wide eyes. 

Jisung grimanced when he moved Chenle’s black hair away softly to uncover the wound. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing, and I—”

“It’s fine,” the older interrupted quickly, knowing that the barbed wire at the bottom of the pool was nearly impossible to control. “It’s not that bad anyway.”

Chenle opened his eyes slowly to see Jisung retracting his hand, his long fingers covered in the older’s blood.

_Why didn’t I feel this earlier?_ he wondered without panicking before meeting eyes with Jisung’s soft and concerned ones. 

Blushing slightly, Chenle looked away. _Right, I was distracted._

Jisung raised an eyebrow after wiping the blood away on his shorts. “Are you sure it’s ‘not that bad’?” 

“The most it could be is a mild concussion,” Chenle replied matter of factly as he stood up all the while avoiding eye-contact with the younger. “I can handle it.”

Jisung widened his eyes after quickly scrambling up as well. 

Chenle’s cuteness made him seem tiny, but he was actually almost as tall as him. 

Renjun let go of his boyfriends’ hands and hugged the younger Chinese tightly, burying his face in Chenle’s chest. “I literally thought you were dead. Don’t scare me like that!”

Chenle giggled slightly as they let go. “Gege, it’s not like I can help it.”

His face went cold suddenly, and he gave Jisung a look. “Do they know?” 

The youngest scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Not exactly?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jaemin smiled softly at Chenle and patted his shoulder. “You’re still our friend, and we care about you. Nothing’s changed.”

The younger nodded gratefully. “Thanks….” 

Donghyuck flipped his long hair snazzily. “Honestly, I kinda saw it coming.” 

"Saw what coming? Us being teleported into yet another nightmare where we almost drown to save a boy who turned out to be Chenle?” Jeno asked as he leaned his arm on Jaemin's shoulder.

"No, I—” Donghyuck stopped talking once he saw that all eyes were on him. “Ugh, nevermind."

"Come on, tell us what you saw coming," Jaemin teased as he gave the older his signature smirking cat grin.

“What I was _trying_ to say is that it’s no surprise that it was Chenle because he wasn’t at school today,” Donghyuck defended with a huff. 

“You could’ve said that earlier.”

“Do you want to die earlier?”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Mark pulled the two away from each other before the fight could turn physical. “So, Lele, how do we get out of here?” 

“Follow me, and I’ll show you,” the younger stated with a small smile before jogging towards the side of the swimming hall farthest away from the pool. 

The others looked at each other warily before quickly following suit.

Chenle pushed in one of the white bricks in the wall as everyone had caught up to him, and the wall opened up to reveal an iron door with a screen showing an outline of a hand next to it. 

He then paused before turning around and taking off his black uniform jacket, making Jisung slightly flustered. 

“Here.” Chenle handed the jacket after wringing it out to Mark who accepted it questioningly. “It’s going to be cold in there, and I know this’ll be a little big on you, but it’s better than going without a shirt.” 

_Oh my lord, he’s an actual angel_ , Jisung thought as Mark thanked Chenle and put on the jacket gratefully. 

Chenle turned back to the door and placed his hand on the screen next to it, making it glow green and say in a monotone voice, “Handprint recognized: Zhong Chenle.” 

The others let out an audible gasp as the iron door opened, and they were met with a gust of cold wind, making them shiver. 

Chenle led them inside the dark room silently, trying to ignore how hungry and unwell he felt.

“What is this? A walk-in freezer?” Jeno asked as his teeth started to chatter, leaning closer to his boyfriends in order to stay warm while his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness.

“More like a refrigerator, but yes,” Chenle answered shakily as the lights automatically flickered on, revealing that they were in some sort of giant lab. “A lot of the equipment and chemicals in here need to be kept cool in order to work.”

“Great. Is this another puzzle we have to do, or are we just passing by?” Donghyuck asked as he huddled close to Mark, his eyes darting around all the technology in the room warily. 

The younger Chinese didn’t say anything as he went to a large table in the middle of the room and picked up the piece of paper laying atop of it.

“This is so stupid.” Jaemin groaned as Chenle handed him the note. He then narrowed his eyes as he tried to read it. “What the fuck kind of code is this?”

Mark looked over the younger’s shoulder before giving him a look. “Bruh, those are molecular formulas.”  
  


“How was I supposed to know that?” 

“How could you _not_ know that? We literally share the same chemistry class.” 

Jaemin scoffed and wrapped his arms around his boyfriends. “I know _some_ chemistry.”

“Ew, Jaemin, not the time.” Renjun cringed as he pushed the younger’s arm off of him.

“Welp, that’s the only type of chemistry I know how to do,” Jaemin sighed as he handed the note to Mark. 

“Explains why you’re failing,” Donghyuck muttered under his breath.

“Huh.” Mark narrowed his eyes with confusion just as Jaemin had done before. “I don’t recognize any of these except for glucose.”

“You don’t have to know what they are. The chemicals in here are labeled with the formulas already,” said Chenle as he started to shiver in his spot slightly, hugging himself to try and keep warm. 

Mark blinked. “What?”

Chenle took the note from the older’s hands. “This is a recipe for a serum. The only way to get out of here is to make the correct formula and send it off on the conveyor to unlock the door.”

“Why do we need to make a serum in the first place?” Jisung asked, suddenly remembering what happened to Chenle in his dream. 

Donghyuck crossed his arms. “Yeah, and why does it need to be correct if it’s going on a conveyor belt anyway?” 

“It’s going to be used on someone, and if you mess up even the tiniest of details, it can be _deadly_ ,” Chenle answered coldly, scaring the others a bit as his eyes darkened. 

He sighed before bringing back his bubbly persona, holding the note in one hand and hugging himself with the other. “Anyways, you’ll find out what it’s used for soon; however, getting out of here s-should be our first p-priority.”

“Right,” Mark agreed, still a little shaken up. “Where do we start?”

“S-Some of y-you can go find the c-chemicals while I h-help with the m-machinery,” Chenle stuttered as he was shivering more violently now, his face turning paler than his already pale complexion. 

“Lele,” Jisung said softly out of impulse, making everyone turn their attention to him. “Do you want me to hold you?” 

“What?” The black-haired gave Jisung a weirded out look as he tried to ignore the way his heart beat a little bit faster at the offer. “No, why?”

Jisung rolled his eyes. “For body heat obviously. I’m not going to let you stand there and freeze to death.”

_Why does he have to be right? I’ll look like an idiot if I just stand here_. Chenle groaned as he felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment, the others watching the two with obvious lenny faces. “Ugh, f-fine.”

He waddled up to Jisung before looking up with a pretty pink blush and a pout that could make Satan himself coo. “I’m only d-doing this because you o-offered. Y-You’re h-helping me enough a-already.”

“Eh, I don’t mind. I actually _want_ to help you,” the taller said with a smile as Chenle hugged him grudgingly, the both of them feeling warm and fuzzy inside as butterflies filled their stomachs. 

“I feel like I’m bothering you, though,” Chenle whined into Jisung’s chest as the younger wrapped his arms around his waist gently. 

_Being this cute should be illegal_ , the younger couldn’t help but think as the scent of strawberries flooded his brain again, knowing very well how cheesy he sounded and how he should chide himself later for it. 

“You’re not bothering me. I promise,” Jisung chuckled softly before taking the note out of Chenle’s hand, ruffling the smaller’s hair slightly. 

Jisung looked back up to see his friends staring at the two of them with cheeky grins on their faces. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Donghyuck said with a smirk as Renjun latched onto his arm, their boyfriends giving each other looks while Jisung just rolled his eyes. “So who’s going to do what?”

Mark shrugged as everyone looked to him for an answer. “We could always do top-”

“We are most definitely _not_ doing that,” Jisung interrupted as he moved a flustered Chenle to hold him from the side, keeping his arm securely around the smaller’s waist. “Renjun and Mark can be with us, and the rest of you can go find the chemicals since Hyuck has good memory.”

“That… actually doesn’t sound bad at all,” Jeno admitted as everyone else silently agreed.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Donghyuck sighed as he took the note from Jisung’s hand.

The seven of them worked together, and by working, Chenle did most of the work handling the machinery with his group while the others gave him whatever tools or chemicals he needed from around the room. 

Jisung didn’t want to admit it, but he loved watching how the black-haired was handling everything like it was nothing. It was almost as if Chenle didn’t have to think because he was just that smart, and it was attractive to say the least. 

There was just something about the older’s intelligence that made Jisung’s heart skip a beat, but as he said before, romance wasn’t really his thing. 

_So why am I feeling this way?_

“Donghyuck’s good at this,” Chenle noted while watching the aforementioned boss Jeno and Jaemin around the giant lab sassily, Mark and Renjun out of earshot as they were trying to mix some of the chemicals together at a different table. “I’m kind of jealous.”

“Why is that?” Jisung asked quietly while gazing at the smaller, trying to resist the urge to move a strand of hair out of the older’s face but ended up failing anyway. 

Chenle blushed at the sudden action and turned to look up at Jisung, the uneasy feeling he had running through his body disappearing for a second once he met eyes with the taller’s fond ones. ”It’s just that… maybe if I had a good memory like him then I would’ve escaped sooner.”

Jisung actually had no idea what he meant by that. He only knew a small percentage of what Chenle was going through. 

Thankfully, he was saved by Jaemin who gave them the last ingredient for the serum. 

After a couple more minutes of combining chemicals from each group, Chenle carefully poured the beaker of glowing blue liquid into a test tube flask before capping it with a rubber stopper. “Alright, let’s go.”

He then led everyone to the back of the room where the exit was to press a button, and a small compartment opened within the wall, allowing him to place the serum inside before closing.

The boys let out a sigh of relief as the iron door opened, and they all walked out of there quickly before the door could close behind them, Jisung making Chenle wrap his arm around his again.

They had ended up in an abnormally long stone hallway with another iron door at the end.

“Ah, fuck,” Chenle swore weakly as he was forced to walk along with the others which was not a Chenle-thing to do, but Jisung found it hot anyway. “I forgot that they added this.” 

“Huh?” Jaemin turned to the younger with confusion along with everyone else. “What do you me-”

Chenle then caught everyone by surprise as his eyes rolled to the back of his head before releasing his grip on Jisung and collapsing to the floor. 

“OH, FUCK!” Donghyuck yelped in surprise before going to help Chenle along with everyone else.

“Nono, check his pulse, and see if he’s still breathing. Jisung, loosen his belt,” Renjun ordered quickly as Mark and Donghyuck laid Chenle onto his back, Jeno and Jisung following directions soon afterwards. 

“He’s breathing,” Jeno stated before going back to sitting on his knees to allow Renjun and Jaemin to lift Chenle’s legs up above his heart.

“I’m glad we still remember basic first aid,” Jisung muttered as he fumbled with Chenle’s belt clasp. Granted, he never thought that he would be unbuckling someone’s belt while they were unconscious. “Nurse Jin would be so proud.” 

“If only he was here now,” Donghyuck said with the shake of his head. 

“Okay, if he doesn’t wake up soon, we’re in some deep shit,” Jaemin noted after Jisung sat back on his knees, his heart still beating at a rapid pace because of his panic. 

Fortunately, Chenle opened his eyes right at that moment to see Donghyuck staring straight at him. 

“Thank the lord almighty.” The tanned male sat back on his knees with a sigh of relief as Renjun and Jaemin let go of Chenle’s legs. “You okay?”

“Do I look like it?” Chenle groaned out as he tried to sit back up, Jisung being quick to help him. 

“What made you faint anyway?” Mark asked with concern as he placed the back of his hand against the younger’s forehead, pulling away when there was no sign of a fever. 

Chenle gulped as everyone watched him curiously, waiting for an answer.

“I don’t remember,” he lied meekly, knowing that everyone wouldn't buy it anyway. 

“Bullshit. Just tell us what’s wrong,” Renjun demanded.

“Lele.” Jaemin saved Chenle from having to answer as he nudged his boyfriend’s shoulder for being rude. “When was the last time you ate?” 

The black-haired bit his lip and hung his head down in shame. “26 hours ago…”

_That can’t be right._ Jisung narrowed his eyes, searching through his memory of what he learned in health class. _You can’t faint after only a day of not eating._

_He can see right through me, can’t he?_ Chenle thought with a grimace when he saw the younger’s confused face as he ignored his friends chastising him for starving himself. 

Jisung wasn’t mad like what the Chinese had thought. He could never get mad at Chenle, but he was definitely worried for him. There was no reason to lie about it unless it was actually much worse than it seemed. 

“Well… do you think you can walk for just a little bit longer?” Jisung asked worriedly as he cupped Chenle’s face softly in his hands, hoping they’d be able to help him once they escaped. “What’s your favorite food, baby? I promise I’ll get you some if we get out of here, okay?” 

_BABY? WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?_ Chenle screamed panickedly in his head as blood rushed to his cheeks, not denying the fact that he kind of liked how the pet name rolled off the younger’s tongue.

He pulled Jisung’s hands down from his face before stammering, “Y-You don’t need to buy me anything. I-I think I can manage.” 

Chenle stood up quickly along with everyone else before feeling himself become lightheaded again, his legs turning to jelly.

Jisung caught Chenle in his arms before he could fall to the floor, and he gave the glossy-eyed boy a look. “You’re definitely not walking. Get on my back.”

“But I’m fine-”

“No, you’re not.” Jisung’s already deep voice dropped a couple octaves which scared his friends a bit. “ _Get on_.”

Chenle pouted in his stubbornness, feeling himself giving in as the younger was already crouched down in front of him. 

Jisung smiled when he felt the boy wrap his arms and legs around him like a koala, the both of them enjoying the warmth radiating off of each other. 

Gripping Chenle’s thighs tightly, Jisung stood back up and turned around to see his friends staring at him with lenny faces again. 

He rolled his eyes, ignoring the older’s warm breath fanning his neck. “Let’s get going.”

\---------- 

“Lele,” Jisung said softly, waking the older from his sleep. “We made it to the door.”

“Hmm?” Chenle lifted his head up from Jisung’s shoulder and blinked. He didn’t realize that he’d managed to fall asleep in such a short time. “Oh, should I get off-”

“Nope, not until we get out of here,” the younger stated quite confidently even though his arms and back were aching. 

Chenle used the rest of his strength to give Jisung a look before sighing and resting his head on the taller’s shoulder again. “You’re lucky I’m tired.”

“Okay, now that you’re awake, can you tell us what levers to pull?” Donghyuck asked impatiently as he eyed the red levers on the wall beside the door. 

“NCT,” Chenle mumbled into Jisung’s neck as he was too tired to explain, making the younger shiver slightly.

“What are we supposed to do with that informa-” Donghyuck stopped talking once he realized that Chenle had fallen asleep. He sighed and slumped his shoulders. “Great.”

They were going to wake him up again when Renjun’s eyes lit up suddenly.

“Wait, Mark. Aren’t there 26 letters in the English alphabet?” 

“Yeah-”

“There’s 26 different levers,” Renjun said as he gripped the older by the shoulders and shook him. “Make the connection!” 

Mark’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. You have brain cells.” 

He pushed the younger’s hands off before Jeno and Jaemin could kill him and scanned the wall of levers before pulling three specific ones, making the iron door open on its own. 

“Ugh, you guys took forever,” complained a short man standing next to Jungwoo in the room in front of them which looked like the swimming hall but without the pool. “Anyways, you can call me Ten. I’m here for Chenle.”


	12. Real Life Nightmare

“I don’t really trust someone named after a number,” Jisung grumbled as he tightened his grip on Chenle’s thighs. 

Ten blinked before tilting his head with an amused face. “I’m sorry, but would you rather call me Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul?” 

“Not really.” The youngest puffed his cheeks and avoided the Thai’s gaze, Jungwoo shaking his head at their interaction before turning to the rest of them. 

“Congrats on making it, by the way,” he said with a smile as Ten went to press a button near the door the boys had just entered through. “There’s only a couple left to go.”

“Ugh, there’s more of this?” Renjun groaned under his breath as Jungwoo continued talking. 

“I know, right?” Donghyuck muttered back. “I’m not even surprised anymore.”

“If you could lay Chenle down here, that would be great.” Jungwoo brought the two’s attention as he patted an old looking cot.

“Okay….” Jisung hesitated slightly before doing what he was told, placing the sleeping boy from his shoulders gently onto the mattress. He even moved Chenle’s limbs to make sure he was comfortable.

“Thanks.” Jungwoo smiled at the youngest gratefully as he went to sit beside the boy on the cot, Jisung kneeling in front of the mattress and touching Chenle’s cold hand with worry.

Jungwoo then looked to his assistant. “Ten—”

“I know, I know. I’ll be back in a sec,” the aforementioned interrupted before walking off to where the boys had just come from.

Waiting for Ten to come back, Jungwoo and Jisung continued to talk quietly while the others kept to themselves.

“Ah, young love,” Jaemin sighed as they watched Jisung pet Chenle’s head softly, the smaller leaning into his touch in his sleep. 

“Reminds me of us when we were kids,” Jeno reminisced as he smiled sweetly at his Korean boyfriend, Renjun rolling his eyes since he was their newest addition just a couple of years ago.

“Sad that I can’t say the same.” Mark smirked playfully at his boyfriend, whose cheeks turned to a bright shade of crimson. “Mine has always been a brat to me.”

Donghyuck gasped. “You little—”

“I’m back~” Ten interrupted as he walked in with a syringe and the serum the boys had made earlier. 

Jisung stood up abruptly once Ten reached the bed and glared at him threateningly, resisting the urge to push the man away. “What are you doing with that?”

“What does it look like?” Ten rolled his eyes and uncapped the flask before using the syringe to suck up the liquid inside, making Jaemin gulp at the sight. 

“Move,” Ten ordered Jisung sternly as he flicked the tip of the needle, the glowing blue serum sloshing around inside the syringe menacingly. 

Chenle didn’t make the liquid seem dangerous in the making, and even though Jisung wanted to trust him, there is just that one nagging feeling in the back of his head that something may have gone wrong. 

He swallowed hard and glanced back at Chenle who was still sleeping soundly before stepping away grudgingly.  _ I swear to god, if he dies from this, I’ll— _

Jisung flinched and looked away once Ten injected the serum into the sleeping boy’s arm. 

The man chuckled slightly when he pulled away and saw the boys’ terrified faces. “Come on, it’s not going to hurt him if you made the serum right.” 

“I think you just made it worse,” Jungwoo noted as everyone else had become just a little bit paler. 

“Ah, whatever.” Ten waved him off as Jisung had finally gotten the courage to turn back to the others again. 

Chenle was squirming slightly on the bed because of the pain from the injection, making Jisung grit his teeth.

“If this works, Lele should be able to last until lunchtime before he has to eat again.” Ten then went close to Jisung and whispered, “His favorite food is ramen, by the way.”

The youngest froze and felt his cheeks burn as the man gave him a wink before going back to Jungwoo. 

“Alright, time to get the fuck to sleep, fetuses. I’m getting tired just standing here,” Ten said with a yawn as Jungwoo tapped something on his phone to reveal three cots set near the one Chenle was in.

Donghyuck’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me, old man, but I am NOT getting within a 3 meter radius of those…  _ things _ .”

Ten raised his eyebrows at the audacity. “Would you like to be sleeping at the bottom of the pool for the rest of your life instead?”

“Okay, crusty-musty bed it is.” The younger put his hands up in defeat before grudgingly going to one of the beds along with the others. 

Jisung laid in his cot alone as the other couples were together in theirs, but he wasn’t cringing at his friends for being clingy like he usually would. 

For the first time in his 18 years of living, he wished he could be clingy with a certain someone too, and that  _ someone _ was sleeping peacefully on the bed across from him. 

_ No, I don’t like him like that…. I just want to make sure he’s okay… _ Jisung thought as his eyes fluttered closed, tiredness taking over him as the image of Chenle turned to blackness before drifting off to sleep. 

—————

An almost dizzying feeling welled over his body as he was back in the office room again, but it wasn’t quite the same. 

_ Did this place get… darker?  _ Jisung looked around warily. The only thing he could clearly make out was the blinking blue light coming from the projector.

He walked towards the big screen with curiosity, ignoring the voice in the back of his head telling him that he shouldn't because something was off. 

He stood in front of the smartboard screen that was now showing him static of all shades of blue, and all too suddenly, it felt like he was leaving his body behind.

Jisung gasped as his hands were fading to pixels into the screen, the rest of him doing the same as everything faded to black. 

It was as if he was in a scene from a ghost movie where his soul was being sucked in by a demon or something.

Panic welled over him like a tsunami once he realized that he couldn't move. 

He then appeared inside a hallway of someone’s house, a house he had never been in before. 

He immediately tried looking down, worried for his body that had basically disintegrated into the smartboard, but he got even more worried once he realized that he couldn’t.

It was like his eyes were stuck watching a scene from a movie, but he was only there as a mere consciousness. 

_ What the fuck is going on? _ he thought before one of the doors creaked open.

A small blonde boy, who looked no older than the age of 10, peaked out into the hallway cutely, and like an echo in Jisung’s head (as if he could still feel it of course), the child said—  _ thought _ , “Can’t sleep. Thirsty.”

The child opened the door wider, revealing his tiny frame dressed in blue pajamas decorated with what looked like little dolphins. 

Jisung swore he looked like a younger version of someone he knew, but he couldn't put a finger on who it was. 

He watched as the boy stumbled out of his room while rubbing his eyes with the back of his fists, directioning his path towards the stairs a little further down the hall. 

The kid stopped as another thought echoed through Jisung’s head, "Who is that?" 

_ Who is what?  _ Jisung thought dumbly before he started to actually listen to what the boy was asking about, hearing several voices talking to each other from downstairs.

The child started to sneak down the steps as quietly as possible and stopped midway to peep through the railing, Jisung’s point of view cutting to a different angle of the scene in front of him.

Looking through an open doorway downstairs, Jisung and the boy could see five different people conversing on the living room couch, three of the five had their backs facing them.

The two people they could actually see the faces of looked like a middle aged couple.

They were speaking in Korean to the other three, but they had a bit of an accent, giving the impression that they were foriegn.

The man was tall and lanky while his wife was average height; however, the two of them had notable features that Jisung had trouble finding out who they belonged to in his uncomfortable state. 

_ Huh, now that I think about it, they kinda look like— _

The woman then smiled slightly at whatever they were talking about, her eyes turning to slits and the corners of her mouth turning upwards in a familiar shape.

_ CHENLE? _ Jisung screeched in his head once he finally noticed the resemblance, his point of view swerving to get another look at the boy's face.  _ Oh, of course it’s him. He was the one who sent me here. _

“I’m really sorry, but I have to excuse myself to go to the restroom,” one of the men with their backs facing towards Jisung and young Chenle apologized formally as he stood up and left the living room with a nod from the others. 

Chenle watched him leave for a second before following after him, the soft taps of his little feet going down the stairs quietly. 

“Why is he going to the kitchen?” Jisung heard the boy think as the mysterious man took something out of his coat pocket before walking into another room. 

Chenle followed him into the kitchen to see the man pacing back and forth across from a table with a tray of tea sitting atop of it.

“I can’t do this. I just can’t,” he muttered under his breath. He looked distraught, almost to the point of pulling his own hair out. 

“Sir?” Chenle snapped the man out of his thoughts which made the older turn around in fear, his brown orbs wide as he was expecting something much worse than just some kid. 

The man’s face softened when he saw the child, and he crouched down to meet his small height. “What are you doing here, little one? Shouldn’t you be sleeping.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir.” Chenle looked down to his feet shyly. “I couldn’t sleep. I was just looking for a drink of water.”

“Ah, that’s okay.” The man ruffled the boy’s hair before standing back up. “I’ll get you a glass, but you have to leave this house right after. It’s not safe.”

“Not safe? This is my house….” Jisung heard Chenle think. The kid knew better than to ask it out loud.

The young man gave Chenle his water and took the glass to put it away quickly once he was done. 

Jisung could hear footsteps coming from behind him which made his head pound. It felt like he was watching some action movie, but he didn't like it, not one bit. It all felt too real. 

“Minghao, what is taking you so long?” 

The aforementioned flinched and hid Chenle under the table as an older man walked into the kitchen. 

_ It’s him _ , Jisung thought with malice, his fear turning more to anger at the sight of his face. 

It was the same man that injected Chenle with something in the last dream he had, and Jisung’s opinion on him still hasn’t changed. 

“Nothing,” Minghao replied coldly, the boy watching what was going on silently through the older’s legs in front of him. 

“Nothing?” The middle-aged man hissed. “All you had to do was pour the poison in the tea!”

“Well, I don’t want to be responsible for an innocent couple’s death!” Minghao snapped back. 

He lowered his voice again. “You can’t make me do this. I’m not a murderer, and I never will be, not over my dead body.”

The older man’s nostrils flared as he grabbed Minghao by the neck tightly, making him wince at the pain and start choking. ”You have forgotten what consequence you’ll get for disobeying me. I hope you have some good last words in mind.”

The image in front of him made Jisung want to get up and do something,  _ anything _ , but he was merely a consciousness floating around. He was only there to watch, and it drove his mind to insanity that he couldn’t do anything to help.

Minghao clawed at his neck as air was cut off from his lungs, yet his eyes were determined as if he was going to stand his ground until the very last second. 

Soon, however, his eyes began to roll back into his head as his legs could no longer bear his weight. With his last breath, he was able to push out a sentence, just barely above a whisper, but it was still loud enough to hear, "T-Tell Junhui I love him.”

And with that, he lost consciousness, the older man keeping his hand on the younger’s neck in order to ensure that he wasn’t going to wake up ever again. 

Minghao’s dead body fell limp to the floor as the man let go. 

_ Oh god, I just watched someone die _ . Jisung’s mind felt numb if that was even possible.  _ I JUST WATCHED SOMEONE DIE! _

This was not like some horror movie or a bad dream of some sort (although this was technically shown through one). Jisung had already connected the dots. This was a look into Chenle’s memories. 

This was  _ real _ .

The middle-aged man took the small bottle of poison that was left forgotten on the floor and looked under the table to see a boy who was shaking in his knees, his face tear-streaked with fear. 

“Just who I was looking for.” He smiled slightly with a twinge of evil behind his gray eyes and dragged Chenle out by the arm while putting the bottle into his pocket. “You just made my job 10 times easier.”

Jisung wanted nothing more than to rip that man’s hand off and beat him senseless. It was obvious that he was the one behind all of this, even the simulations. 

“Let me go!” Chenle screamed as he wriggled around in the older’s grasp, more tears starting to flood out and blurring his vision. 

The man sighed as he typed on his phone with his free hand. “I seemed to have forgotten how incompetent kids are.”

Not even a minute later, two men in all black suits with black masks and sunglasses covering their faces entered the kitchen through a side door and took Chenle from the man’s grip, dragging the boy out of the room as they covered his mouth to muffle his cries. 

“I heard screaming what’s going on?” a voice near the other door of the kitchen asked worriedly, the older man quickly following the noise to see who it was. 

A young man dressed similarly to Minghao appeared in front of the doorway.

“Oh, Junhui, nice of you to show up,” the older said nonchalantly as he took up space in the doorway to cover up the crime scene.

“Cut the crap, Mr. Lee. What did you do with Minghao?” Junhui seethed.

“The real question is: what are you doing here instead of distracting the Zhongs?”

“It’s been more than 20 minutes, and I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but my husband’s safety comes first.” Junhui tried walking into the room, but he was blocked from entering. He glared up at the older man. “Move.”

Mr. Lee looked at him blankly before stepping aside slowly, his face dressed in a slight smirk. “Very well.”

“HAO!” Junhui let out a shaky gasp as his face went pale. He rushed towards Minghao’s body on the floor, only to discover that his husband was dead. 

Dropping to his knees, he held Minghao’s lifeless hand as tears started to run down his cheeks. Not a single word was uttered from the now widower as his tears slowly dripped onto his and Minghao’s hands. 

Jisung didn't want to watch anymore, not that he wanted to in the first place. All he wanted was to get out of there as soon as possible. 

“If you’ll excuse me, I will be taking this,” Mr. Lee stated quietly after he poured all of the poison into the teapot. He picked up the tray and took it out of the room, leaving Junhui to grieve alone. 

Through tear filled eyes, Junhui took Minghao's other hand and pressed them together under his own palms, his head falling against Minghao's chest as he sobbed. Junhui took a deep breath, inhaling his husband's scent for the very last time. 

"W-Why did he have to kill you…” Junhui uttered under his breath, his voice shaky. “WHY?"

“Junhui couldn't bear the death of his spouse and killed himself shortly after the incident,” Chenle’s present day voice invaded Jisung’s head. “Minghao was his only friend, and he was the only one who was just like him… before SM sciences started their newest project." 

If Jisung was still in his body, he would’ve broken down in sobs too, but right at this moment, his mind was blank, only the dull and painful feeling in his conscious reminding him of what he just watched. It was too much to take in all at once. 

His point of view changed again, and he watched as Mr. Lee walked into the living room towards the couch with the tray of tea in his hands.

“I’m sorry about that. Minghao got sick, and Junhui had to take him home,” he lied with a small and obviously fake smile. “But I assure you,  _ they’re fine _ .”

“Was the maid not available?” Mrs. Zhong asked as the tray was set down on the coffee table. 

“She said there was a family emergency, so I offered to do her job before she left,” Mr. Lee said calmly as he poured the couple tea in their respective teacups, knowing very well that he had his men eliminate the poor woman as well. 

“We’re really sorry about that,” Mr. Zhong apologized flusteredly. “You really didn’t have to bring it to us yourself.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, not at all.” Mr. Lee’s eyes crinkled with evil delight as the couple took the cups of tea into their hands mindlessly. 

They drank their tea at the same time, and not even a minute later, they began to cough up blood.

Held in the arms of Mr. Lee’s men on the sidelines, Chenle was forced to watch his parents die a slow and painful death as he cried silently behind the cloth covering his mouth. 

“Mom… dad…” Chenle could only think, making Jisung feel even worse.

_ Please get me out.  _ Jisung pleaded. He couldn’t take any more of this suffering.  _ Get me out of here.  _

Like his prayers were answered, he suddenly tumbled out of the smartboard screen in his body again and sat himself up on his knees while breathing heavily. 

Jisung wanted nothing but to throw up. He felt disgusting for not doing anything even though he couldn't. It was just a memory. It happened a long time ago, and knowing that felt like torture.

Not even having a second to rest or process everything that just happened, Jisung felt his vision getting darker, and he finally remembered what Chenle told him to do in the last dream he had.

He struggled to stand up and hurriedly went to grab whatever was on the shelf beside him before his vision went completely black. 


	13. Rumors

Jisung woke up with his head laying on his forearms as he sat in a rather cold room, the ticking of a clock being the only distinctive sound his brain could make out. 

He lifted his head, expecting to be sitting somewhere in his house, only to be surprised to see that he was in his history classroom. The whiteboard still had notes about the Roman empire from the day before. 

_ School? Why'd they teleport me here?  _ He thought groggily as he straightened his back. There was a sharp pain in his neck, probably from the sleeping position he was left in. 

The first thing he did was check his pockets, letting out a sigh of relief once he felt his phone. 

He looked around the room while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The only light provided was the blue-shining moonlight seeping through the window curtains. 

He noticed a clock in the back of the room and squinted to read it in the lack of lighting. It was just a little before 4:30 in the morning. 

Suddenly, the traumatizing events from the "dream" he had crept back into his head, leaving a stinging feeling in his chest. He felt a sort of numbness spread through his body at the memory. It was so sad and painful that it made him feel… empty. 

He looked down at the desk he was sitting at and noticed a tape laying still on the table. 

A joyless, bitter chuckle escaped his throat as he picked it up and inspected it carefully.  _ You have all this technology, yet you still gave me a video tape out of all things. You guys can literally travel in between parallel universes.  _

He folded it between his hands twice as he looked for some kind of text or any other clues without any luck. 

He stood up and looked for his bag which he found conveniently placed against the left legs of the desk. He chucked the tape into the front pocket and swung it around his shoulder.

Just as he was about to leave the room, he heard footsteps coming from the corridor outside, making him freeze in his place.

Jisung could feel his heart stop, his blood running cold _.  _

_ Not a-fucking-nother nightmare escape room,  _ he thought with a gulp, his eyes wide open as if he would call attention towards him with a single blink. 

Feeling his heart pound in his ears, he let out a shaky breath as the footsteps became quieter.  _ No, get yourself together. If you’re here, the others have to be here as well, right? You need to find them. _

He went over to the door and peered through the tiny window, only to be met with the same hallway he was used to seeing almost everyday yet lifeless. 

He reached for the cold handle and twisted it slowly, peeking his head out for potential threats before he stepped outside. 

The atmosphere just reeked of uneasiness as Jisung walked down the corridor, searching for at least one of his friends. Everything felt weird in general, either because of how early it was or how he couldn’t seem to find any sign of life.

Just as he was about to give up, he yelped as a sudden pull by the collar yanked him into an empty classroom, and he was pushed up against the wall. 

He was about to go into full flight or fight mode, only to find himself staring into a set of familiar eyes, his worries suddenly vanishing before him. 

_Thank_ _god, you’re alive_ , he thought, surprised but relieved at the same time.

"L-Lele?" Jisung’s hands found their way around the older’s waist, their eyes still locked on each other’s gazes. “What are you—”

Chenle caught him by surprise yet again by resting his chin on Jisung’s shoulder, their chests flush against each other as he reached behind him to unzip the younger’s bag.

Feeling his heart start to beat at a faster pace, Jisung squeezed Chenle’s side impulsively which made the smaller squeak and melt in his grasp. 

Chenle then flushed a deep shade of crimson at the noise he let out and quickly backed away from the taller who had on a similar expression. “I-I was just checking if you got the tape!”

Jisung shook himself out of his daze before crossing his arms, his heart refusing to calm down from earlier. “Well, you could’ve just asked me instead… unless you wanted an excuse to touch me.”

Chenle scoffed. “As if. You touched me first.”

”Says the one who pushed me up against the wall.”

“Weren’t you the one who grabbed my waist afterwards?” The smaller asked as he tapped his chin with a playful glint in his eyes, making Jisung blush. “Clearly, you were enjoying it.”

“Aish, whatever.” Jisung waved him off, not having the heart to argue with the cute boy in front of him.

“Are you feeling better?” he then asked softly as he moved Chenle’s bangs away and pressed the back of his hand against the smaller’s forehead, checking for any sign of fever. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Chenle answered quietly, closing his eyes and subconsciously leaning into Jisung’s touch as the younger started to pet his hair. 

Suddenly snapping back to reality, Chenle widened his eyes and pulled away abruptly. “We need to leave.”

"What? Why? W-What about everyone else?" Jisung asked apprehensively as he watched Chenle pull out his phone, probably the same one that Jungwoo and the others used. 

"There  _ is _ no ‘everyone else’," Chenle answered, distracted by the device. 

Jisung gaped. If he wasn’t panicked earlier, he definitely was now. “What are we doing here alone then? School doesn’t even start for a couple more hours!”

Chenle shushed him and looked him in the eyes, his own being slightly shaky. “They sent us here because they’re catching onto something.” 

He looked up to see the younger turn pale, and his face softened. “Thankfully, they haven’t figured out what… not yet at least.” 

“Well, that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Jisung grumbled. He still couldn’t help but feel uneasy. “I’m not even the one behind all this.”

“Whatever, we need to get you home ASAP. Do you have any good idea where to hide the tape?” Chenle asked as his device started beeping every second like a countdown—

_ Hold up. A COUNTDOWN?  _ “ _ Please _ tell me we’re not teleporting again,” Jisung begged, the older grinning up at him unapologetically.

"You’re not going to pass out this time." 

"Are you out of your mind? What if someone sees us?" Jisung whisper-screeched as he looked around for any security cameras. 

"SM Sciences took care of that a long time ago." Chenle answered nonchalantly as he waved the device in front of the other. 

Before Jisung had time to ask what exactly they did, his world went black, and not even a second later, he was standing in front of his house with Chenle right next to him.

“Oh, good. You were right about me not passing out,” Jisung sighed, relieved even though he still had to blink away some of the dizziness from traveling.

He reached into his bag and struggled more than necessary to find his house keys whilst Chenle was watching him over his shoulder, nervously chuckling as stress welled over him. 

He unlocked the door silently to not wake up his mother, and the two entered, Jisung re-locking the door after them. 

It kind of endearing how Chenle's eyes sparkled as they looked around the house with curiosity, not hiding the fact that he's examining Jisung's baby photos. 

It made Jisung slightly embarrassed, yet he didn't know why. Chenle looking so fondly over the pictures triggered the dream-memory thing he had, and he couldn’t help but feel bad. 

He could see the longing feeling in his little smile and glossy eyes, showing a glint of sadness mixed in it all.

Jisung felt so privileged at that moment. Even though he didn’t have a dad, he had the best mom he could ever ask for, and seeing a boy with no one other than the man who killed his parents was just so heartbreaking to him. He wished to be able to give him the closeness he needed… even if it wouldn’t be the same. 

Jisung acted before he could think. He wrapped his arms around Chenle from behind, engulfing him in a back hug as he rested his head on the smaller’s shoulder. 

His voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke. "I'm so sorry. I really am…" 

Chenle’s breath hitched, feeling the other’s warm breath tickle his ear. “Don’t say that. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Jisung’s heart melted when Chenle leaned into his soft embrace, and they both stood like that, wallowing in the silence for a minute or two as the younger didn’t know what to say. 

_ I care about you… more than a friend should _ .   
  


—————

“Hey,” Jisung snapped Chenle out of his thoughts after walking out of his room. “Just a question, but um, if you can teleport anywhere you want, then why are you still….”

“I can’t teleport anywhere outside of this area, and when I try to run away, they end up teleporting me back, and they give me a… punishment,” Chenle answered quietly with a gulp as he finished, his voice slightly shaky. His eyes travelled the room nervously as if he was avoiding Jisung’s eyes, his hands folding up his left sleeve for no reason. 

Jisung’s blood went cold at that.  _ What are they doing to him? _

It wasn’t long until the two teleported back, the both of them hiding near the gates to avoid suspicion before class. 

Their friends may have given them some questioning looks as they arrived, but they didn’t have the energy to dwell on it. Chenle’s alive now, and that’s all that mattered.

As they walked through the halls towards their lockers, Jisung noticed a lot of curious stares coming from the people around them, but it wasn’t like the usual lovestruck looks he’d get. They were just expressing shock or confusion, usually followed with them turning around and whispering to their friends. 

It very much confused Jisung until he looked around him, seeing Chenle taking soft and small steps, wearing a natural, uninterested expression as he walked in between him and Jaemin, who was being actively pushed away by Renjun. The emotion he had shown in his house was completely gone with the wind as he looked in front of him with empty, yet soft eyes. 

To Jisung, it was kind of intimidating, but it was oddly adorable at the same time. 

Jisung had been told that Chenle was this “emotionless, but somehow cute, scientist nerd”, and he was very skeptical of it being true, especially after meeting him, but seeing him like this made him almost forget the scene that happened just a couple of minutes ago. However, his image was known around the entire school, so it couldn’t be just that. 

Jisung realized what it was after a few seconds had gone by. He had forgotten that they never really hung out during school hours, so them suddenly walking together like friends would be a pretty big deal. 

After thinking about it for way too long, he dismissed the thought, and that’s when he realized his feet had led him to his locker, staring dumbly at it without opening it. He shook his head to snap out of his thoughts as he heard a crowd of girls giggling as he did so, a downside of being popular. 

Jaemin, whose locker was a couple lockers away, noticed his weird behavior and went over to him, concerned. He laid his hand softly on Jisung’s shoulder and asked, “You alright? Did you get enough sleep?” 

“O-Oh, yeah. I just had a nightmare last night. It’s no big deal,” Jisung answered awkwardly, which was not like his character at all, as he scratched his nape. His eyes wandered the room, looking for Chenle who had already gone to his class. 

“Alright, just don’t—” Jaemin got cut off by the bell ringing, “Just don’t do anything stupid like that, okay? You’re making me worried.” 

Jisung nodded and watched his mother hen-like friend run off to his class before quickly opening his locker and grabbing his books, running off to his first period soon after. 

The morning went by suspiciously quick as Jisung waited for lunchtime. His classes were pretty pressed that day, so he had no time to see anyone from the group other than Renjun, except for that one time after math class when Donghyuck accidentally hit him in the head with a book while going for Lottah, who merely smirked and walked away unscathed. 

Jisung quickly packed up his stuff as he fled his art class, sprinting to his locker and throwing his stuff aimlessly inside before making his way towards the cafeteria. 

His plans were foiled when his history teacher, Ms. Minatozaki, called him over to talk to him. 

She wanted to talk about something related to his test on Ancient Greece, but Jisung’s mind was currently unavailable for anything related to academics. He merely nodded uninterested as he sat in front of her, his leg bouncing under the desk impatiently. 

In the end, Ms. Minatozaki sighed, “You’re not listening, are you? You’re dismissed, but we’re going to talk seriously about this later.”

Jisung nodded and bowed to her politely before he soniced his ass out of there, a small smile dressing his teacher. 

He hastily walked through the empty hallways towards the cafeteria without being stopped this time, and once he arrived, he noticed a crowd had formed around his and his friends’ usual table. 

He stood confused in the doorway of the cafeteria as he heard a pair of girls walk past him, gossiping, “Did you hear that Jisung, you know, the captain of the dance team, and Chenle, the captain of the robotics team, are fighting for the title of most popular guy at school by sleeping with as many girls as possible? They’re even going for guys!” 

_ What the fuck. _ Jisung’s eyes widened as he turned around and looked down at the girl with fire in his eyes, stepping closer to her in an act to intimidate her. “Who said that?”

“L-Lottah did!” The girl exclaimed loudly as she sunk into herself at his gaze, almost pissing herself by how scared she was. 

“Of course,” Jisung muttered as his rage left his body, only bitterness being left behind. 

He then realized how close he was to the girl and how close she was to start crying.

He stepped back immediately and ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. “I-It’s not true, by the way. I just don’t know why Lottah would say something like that.” 

The girl nodded quickly and grabbed her friend’s arm before walking into the cafeteria, hearing her friend say, “That was kinda hot, though,” whilst adding another person to her ‘people you should avoid list’.

Jisung finally walked up to the crowd, pushing through it while trying to block out the thousands of things being said.

“How is he so cute and hot at the same time?” He heard one girl scream, whilst another one asked, “Are you and Jisung actually going to fight after school?” 

_ Seems like she didn’t just spread one rumor, huh,  _ Jisung thought bitterly as he heard one other girl say, “Did you know that Jisung said he hates you?” 

Jisung had finally pushed his way through the crowd and saw Chenle sitting at the table with Mark, Renjun and Jeno.

It seemed like Jisung wasn’t the only one who was angry because his friends were trying to hold Renjun back from murdering the people surrounding them. 

“Oi, Jisung!” Jeno called as his boyfriend squirmed around in his grasp. Mark was trying to reconcile with the crowd so they could go away, but it was no use. 

The place went deathly quiet (except for Renjun’s cute whining) as Jisung walked behind Chenle, who flinched slightly, and placed his chin on top of his mop of black hair, wrapping his arms around the boy’s shoulders affectionately. 

“I’m sorry you had to hear all that. People spread weird rumors about us all the time,” Jisung said simply, his voice soft.

Chenle moved the other’s arms off of him with a pout, angrily muttering, “You’re acting like I was going to believe them.” 

Thankful that the older didn’t ask why, Jisung chuckled as he slid down in the seat beside him and faced the older with a grin. 

The corners of Chenle’s mouth were slowly peeking upwards as they stared into each other’s eyes teasingly, Jisung knowing very well that the boy wasn’t actually mad at him. 

Chenle’s cheeks were painted with a soft blush as he glared at him with fake annoyance.

They both hadn’t realized that whispering had broken out in the crowd around them, but Mark did.

“Nothing to see here, guys!” He rambled panickedly in an attempt to get everyone to leave. “Just guys being dudes!” 

  
  


“How dare you speak about the heterosexual agenda, Mark Lee!” Donghyuck shouted at his boyfriend accusingly as he and Jaemin arrived while the others left grudgingly. 

“Oh, please, Hyuckie, I was just trying to get them to leave,” Mark insisted before they started arguing, and everyone just sat there, watching the two stubborn lovers argue about something that matters as much as a grit of sand on a beach. It’s a wonder how they got together in the first place.

“Why were you guys late?” Jeno asked to change the subject before the argument got too heated, his and Jaemin’s hand now intertwined with Renjun’s.

“Well, you see, some  _ idiot _ got himself in trouble with the principal because he was messing with a girl who has a dad of high status,” Jaemin grumbled as he stared holes into Donghyuck who merely shrugged without a care in the world. 

“She was being an asshole, and she planned to spread rumors about Jisung and Chenle of all people. Plus, the book didn't even hit her! It hit Jisung!” Donghyuck complained before giving Jisung an apologetic look. “Sorry about that, by the way…. Anyways, what did we miss?” 

“Oh, nothing much—” Jisung tried saying before he got cut off.

“We were discussing what happened last night when some people decided to harass Chenle with rumors or something, but then Jisung waltzed in here and started flirting with the poor boy! It was toothrottingly sweet. I wanted to puke the whole time,” Renjun clarified with a grin as he watched the two youngest’s reaction, Donghyuck letting out a loud cackle as he leaned against Mark for stability. 

Jisung and Chenle gasped as heat flushed to their cheeks. “WE WEREN’T FLIRTING!”

“The synchronization really drives your point home,” Renjun sighed with a roll of his eyes before letting out a high-pitched squeal, the tips of his ears turning to an angry shade of red. 

Jeno and Jaemin smiled slyly at him like they didn’t just squeeze their tiny boyfriend’s thighs just a second ago.

“Don’t be so rude, Junnie,” Jaemin chuckled as he dodged Renjun’s fists. 

“God, can we finally get some food? I’m starving,” Donghyuck complained as he shook his boyfriend’s arm. “Markie~ Can you get me something good to eat?”

Mark sighed as he couldn’t resist the younger’s whining. “I’ll get you something, but you still owe me, though.”

“I owe you something, alright,” Dongyuck said with a wink like he was indicating something not suitable for young audiences. 

Feeling uncomfortable with the energy created, Jisung stood up and patted Chenle’s shoulder. “I’ll go get you something too.”

“What? No, you don’t have to. I can get food for myself,” Chenle sputtered as he stood up and stopped Jisung from walking away by grabbing his wrist. 

Jisung merely smiled as he took Chenle’s hand in his own, squeezing it comfortingly before releasing it. “Hey, I want to treat you. Don’t worry so much about it.”

Chenle watched Jisung walk away with Mark, Jeno, and Jaemin, and for once in his life, he had nothing to say back. 

He sat back down, dumbfounded, before turning to the only people still sitting there. “What even was that?” 

“Well,  _ someone _ must be deeply in love with you~” Donghyuck teased as Renjun snickered quietly.

“You should consider yourself special. Jisung can’t even spare a penny, let alone an entire meal to anyone, not even us. He didn’t even pay for me when I forgot my wallet two years ago,” Renjun explained with a bittersweet chuckle; however, it was more sweet than bitter. 

Donghyuck’s amber eyes widened. “You still remember that?” 

“Yeah, of course I did. That was the same exact day Jeno and Jaemin transferred here.” Renjun smiled slightly. “They were the ones who paid for me, and things escalated from there. So, I guess I’ll thank Jisung for that.”

“Oh, um… I-I don’t know what to say,” Chenle stuttered awkwardly with a blush on his cheeks, still very flustered as he started playing with the sleeve of his jacket.

“Ah, young love,” Donghyuck sighed dreamingly before Renjun cringed and threw a pencil at him.

“Wait, ge, aren’t you going to get food too?” Chenle asked while single-handedly preventing a cat fight from taking place in the middle of the lunch room.

Renjun smirked slyly. “When you have two boyfriends kissing your shoes 24/7, you don’t have to do virtually anything.” 

Donghyuck gasped. “I want two boyfriends! Double the Mark, double the fun, and also, more work gets done- holy shit, that rhymed. I’m a genius.” 

Soon, the other four came back with food and sat down with the other three, who were already a giggling mess. 

“Babe~” Donghyuck started as Mark was already sighing. ”Are you poly?” 

Jeno, who had already started drinking his chocolate milk, choked as Mark groaned. 

“We’ve talked about this. I’m not doing a threesome!” Mark raised his voice slightly as he dramatically slammed his fist against the table while Jaemin and Renjun were taking care of Jeno, who was still trying to cough the chocolate milk out of his windpipe. 

“Not like that! Ugh, forget it,” Donghyuck pouted as he sipped from the apple juice box that Mark had gotten him, which he knew was his favorite. 

“What? Am I not good enough?” Mark asked sternly as he raised an eyebrow at the younger. 

“Stop~ I was joking,” Donghyuck whined before he looked at his boyfriend with puppy eyes. “I love you. Stop making me look bad!” 

It was quiet as everyone around the table watched the k-drama unfold, Jeno finally breaking the silence to cough again. 

“Whatever,” Mark grumbled sourly, and he pushed Donghyuck’s tray towards him.

“Say it back,” Donghyuck commanded with a playful grin.

“Why?”

Donghyuck simply kept smiling at the stubborn boy and moved closer. “Say it!” 

Mark looked over to Renjun, who was giving him a taunting look, and he looked back at Donghyuck who was now inches away from his face, smiling cutely.

“Fine, I love you too, sunshine,” Mark mumbled in defeat, which made Donghyuck light up brighter than the sun itself. 

Chenle, whose jaw was probably on the floor at this point, whispered to Jisung, “Is this normal? They seemed fine together last night.”

“This is pretty much them on a daily basis… when they’re not in a life-threatening situation of course,” Jisung explained lightly as he picked at his food. “They somehow manage to argue about something new every day.”

“Sounds healthy,” Chenle commented as looked at the couple being all lovey dovey in front of them.

“It’s just love quarreling, but it’s entertaining.” Jisung pushed a cup of instant ramen to Chenle. “Anyway, I got you something to eat.”

“Woah, you got me ramen?” Chenle’s eyes lit up cutely at the simple dish, which made Jisung’s heart do a little flip. “I love ramen. How did you know?”

Jisung snapped out of his dumb stupor.  _ How the fuck am I supposed to explain myself? _ “O-Oh… um, you know… you look like a ramen kinda guy…?” 

A loud wheeze could be heard coming from Donghyuck and Renjun, followed by them muttering “a ramen kinda guy” to themselves while trying not to burst out laughing.

Chenle raised an eyebrow at Jisung before shaking his head and grabbing his chopsticks. 

“Didn’t you get him a drink too?” Jaemin asked as he wiggled his eyebrows at Jisung.

“Oh no, you really didn’t have to—” Chenle started before Jisung reached into his jacket pocket dramatically and pulled out a Capri sun.

He slammed it on the table without breaking it thankfully. “I hope you like orange ‘cause I tried to throw a strawberry one at Jaemin, but it ended up hitting Lottah in the face.”

To everyone’s surprise, Chenle let out a dolphin squeak as he tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t hide his smile for the life of him. 

He cleared his throat and took the drink from Jisung’s hand. “I don’t find you funny.” 

“And Jisung isn’t completely whipped for you. Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” Donghyuck muttered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as he leaned on Mark’s shoulder.

“Geez, Hyuck, let the kids be in love,” Jaemin defended before throwing a plastic fork in Donghyuck’s direction as Jisung and Chenle avoided eye contact shyly. 

The rest of the school day didn’t feel as lighthearted as it was at lunch, of course. 

Anxiousness had overtaken them all like a bucket of cold ice, especially when they were left alone, but nothing could compare to what they would face in just a matter of time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why lottah spread those rumors in the first place 🤔


End file.
